Long Island, NY - September 28, 2017 - Earlier this month, Equifax reported that hackers gained access to company data that potentially compromised sensitive information for nearly 143 million American consumers. The breach included sensitive personal information such as social security numbers, driver’s license numbers, names, addresses, and birth dates.
“The Equifax breach has threatened millions of Americans' livelihoods, security and safety,” said Senator John Brooks. “It serves as a wake-up call -- we must do more to protect consumers’ personal information from vicious thieves and we need to strengthen our laws to hold agencies accountable.”
In response to the Equifax breach, Senator John Brooks has co-sponsored legislation introduced by his Senate Democratic Conference colleague, Senator Leroy Comrie. The legislation would require consumer credit reporting agencies to disclose data breaches within 15 days of discovery (S6880). It would also place an automatic security freeze on consumer credit reports and waive the fee for consumers to unfreeze their credit report (S6879). Further, it would provide clear state regulation over consumer credit reporting agencies like Equifax (S6878).
Brooks continued, “These measures will mitigate that risk by providing consumers with more information and tools to protect themselves. They will also mandate that agencies like Equifax are open and honest with their customers when their security is compromised.”