Commerce Committee Seeks Answers on Equifax Data Breach
September 8, 2017
WASHINGTON – U.S. Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), who serve as the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, today sent a letter to the chief executive of Equifax Inc. following news that the company had identified a cybersecurity incident potentially impacting approximately 143 million U.S. consumers.
Excerpt from the letter to Equifax Inc.:
“This announcement raises a number of concerns given the sensitivity of the personal data implicated and, consequently, the severity of risk consumers may face. As one of the three major credit reporting agencies in the United States, Equifax collects highly-sensitive information on American consumers. The company maintains that its investigation uncovered “no evidence of unauthorized activity on Equifax’s core consumer or commercial credit reporting databases.” Nevertheless, the nature of the information that appears to have been compromised, together with the number of potentially-impacted consumers, requires that we regard this incident as a major data security breach.”
The full letter to Equifax Inc. may be viewed here. The Commerce Committee and its Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, Insurance, and Data Security have jurisdiction over consumer protection and cybersecurity.
Excerpt from the letter to Equifax Inc.:
“This announcement raises a number of concerns given the sensitivity of the personal data implicated and, consequently, the severity of risk consumers may face. As one of the three major credit reporting agencies in the United States, Equifax collects highly-sensitive information on American consumers. The company maintains that its investigation uncovered “no evidence of unauthorized activity on Equifax’s core consumer or commercial credit reporting databases.” Nevertheless, the nature of the information that appears to have been compromised, together with the number of potentially-impacted consumers, requires that we regard this incident as a major data security breach.”
The full letter to Equifax Inc. may be viewed here. The Commerce Committee and its Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, Insurance, and Data Security have jurisdiction over consumer protection and cybersecurity.
