DataBreaches.Net

Menu
  • About
  • Breach Notification Laws
  • Privacy Policy
  • Transparency Report
Menu

No consensus on notifying victims of data breaches, but I have a few thoughts

Posted on March 9, 2014 by Dissent

Eric Tucker of Associated Press reports:

The data breach at Target Corp. that exposed millions of credit card numbers has focused attention on the patchwork of state consumer notification laws and renewed a push for a single national standard.

Most states have laws that require retailers to disclose data breaches, but the laws vary wildly. Consumers in one state might learn immediately that their personal information had been exposed, but that might not happen in another state, and notification requirements for businesses depend on where compares are located.

Attorney General Eric Holder has joined the call for a nationwide notification standard, but divisions persist, making a consensus questionable this year.

“We’re stuck with the state-by-state approach unless some compromise gets done at the federal level,” said Peter Swire, a privacy expert at Georgia Tech and a former White House privacy official.

Despite general agreement on the value of a national standard, there are obstacles to a straightforward compromise:

—Consumer groups don’t want to weaken existing protections in states with the strongest laws.

—Retailers want laws that are less burdensome to comply with and say too much notification could cause consumers to tune out the problem.

—Congress is trying to figure out how a federal standard should be enforced and what the threshold should be before notification requirements kick in.

Read more on Yahoo! News

One compromise might be to not require businesses to notify consumers directly in low-risk situations, but have them notify states – and require states to post breach notices on a public website consumers can check. Or in the alternative, have a large federal website that updates with submitted breach reports on a weekly basis. The following types of information would make for a helpful table/entry: name of entity, address, number of consumers affected, types of information involved, nature of breach, date of incident, date of discovery, any vendor/business associate involved, whether credit monitoring services are being offered, and contact phone numbers/email addresses for consumers to use to contact entity if they have questions.

And as part of any federal law, law enforcement agencies that discover a breach should be required to notify the breached entity (although they should be able to require delayed notification by the entity to protect any investigation).


Related:

  • Paying cyberattackers is wrong, right? Should Taos County's incident be an exception?
  • Legal Silence and Chilling Effects: Injunctions Against the Press in Cybersecurity
  • North Country Healthcare responds to Stormous's claims of a breach
  • Gladney Adoption Center had serious data exposures in the past few months. What will they do to prevent more?
  • 70% of healthcare cyberattacks result in delayed patient care, report finds
  • Hackers Can Remotely Trigger the Brakes on American Trains and the Problem Has Been Ignored for Years
Category: Breach LawsCommentaries and AnalysesFederal

Post navigation

← AU: Asylum seeker data breach triggers court battles
Experian Lapse Allowed ID Theft Service Access to 200M Consumer Records – Krebs →

Now more than ever

"Stand with Ukraine:" above raised hands. The illustration is in blue and yellow, the colors of Ukraine's flag.

Search

Browse by Categories

Recent Posts

  • Scattered Spider Hijacks VMware ESXi to Deploy Ransomware on Critical U.S. Infrastructure
  • Hacker group “Silent Crow” claims responsibility for cyberattack on Russia’s Aeroflot
  • AIIMS ORBO Portal Vulnerability Exposing Sensitive Organ Donor Data Discovered by Researcher
  • Two Data Breaches in Three Years: McKenzie Health
  • Scattered Spider is running a VMware ESXi hacking spree
  • BreachForums — the one that went offline in April — reappears with a new founder/owner
  • Fans React After NASCAR Confirms Ransomware Breach
  • Allianz Life says ‘majority’ of customers’ personal data stolen in cyberattack (1)
  • Infinite Services notifying employees and patients of limited ransomware attack
  • The safe place for women to talk wasn’t so safe: hackers leak 13,000 user photos and IDs from the Tea app

No, You Can’t Buy a Post or an Interview

This site does not accept sponsored posts or link-back arrangements. Inquiries about either are ignored.

And despite what some trolls may try to claim: DataBreaches has never accepted even one dime to interview or report on anyone. Nor will DataBreaches ever pay anyone for data or to interview them.

Want to Get Our RSS Feed?

Grab it here:

https://databreaches.net/feed/

RSS Recent Posts on PogoWasRight.org

  • Congress tries to outlaw AI that jacks up prices based on what it knows about you
  • Microsoft’s controversial Recall feature is now blocked by Brave and AdGuard
  • Trump Administration Issues AI Action Plan and Series of AI Executive Orders
  • Indonesia asked to reassess data privacy terms in new U.S. trade deal
  • Meta Denies Tracking Menstrual Data in Flo Health Privacy Trial
  • Wikipedia seeks to shield contributors from UK law targeting online anonymity
  • British government reportedlu set to back down on secret iCloud backdoor after US pressure

Have a News Tip?

Email: Tips[at]DataBreaches.net

Signal: +1 516-776-7756

Contact Me

Email: info[at]databreaches.net

Mastodon: Infosec.Exchange/@PogoWasRight

Signal: +1 516-776-7756

DMCA Concern: dmca[at]databreaches.net
© 2009 – 2025 DataBreaches.net and DataBreaches LLC. All rights reserved.