Today's hearing is also about data security, which directly implicates consumer privacy--we are reminded of this, I'm afraid, every day in the headlines. The recent security breaches at Citibank, Sony, and Epsilon show that companies are increasingly vulnerable to cyberattacks that compromise the safety and privacy of
Americans. When criminals break into a database and steal credit card numbers, social security numbers, or even email addresses, they can use this information to commit identity theft, which can have devastating consequences for the victims.
This is why Senator Pryor and I have reintroduced S. 1207, the Data Security and Breach Notification Act. The bill would impose an obligation on companies to adopt basic security protocols to protect sensitive consumer data; and would further require these companies to notify affected consumers in the wake of a security
breach.
The bill would also require greater transparency in the "data broker" industry. These are companies that amass vast amounts of data on consumers and sell that information to other companies, often for marketing purposes. Americans do not have any direct relationship with these data brokers and often have no idea that
such companies even exist and have files of information on them.
