Obama's call for Data Breach

October 20, 2014

Hoping to mitigate another large scale data breach, President Obama calls on congress to enact legislation hoping to protect consumers from data breaches in the future. Obama calls for Chip and Pin issuance of all government cards, as well as upgrading retail payment card terminals to accept EMV. In the past few years there have been several large scale criminal “hacks” at major retailers such as Target and Neiman Marcus.

During an event held at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, President Obama called on Congress to enact legislation hoping to bring clarity to expectations consumers should have when there is a data breach and steps companies must take to notify their customers or risks following such breaches. Noting the variety of state laws on data security, the president called for “one clear national standard that brings certainty to business and keeps consumers safe.”

Acknowledging there is no silver bullet to guarantee data security, the president nonetheless called on stakeholders to harness enhanced security measures. For the administration’s part, the president signed an executive order calling for chip-and-PIN on newly issued and existing government credit cards and debit cards (such as Direct Express); and upgrading retail payment terminals at federal agency facilities to accept chip-and-PIN.

Source: www.nafcu.org