Credit unions: Anti-hacking bill should be ‘priority’

by. Julian Hattem

A credit union trade group is calling on Congress to pass legislation to combat some hackers as soon as lawmakers return to Washington next month.

“When Congress reconvenes in September, legislative action to address data breaches that occur at the hands of retailers must be a priority,” National Association of Federal Credit Union Senior Vice President Carrie Hunt wrote in a letter to congressional leaders on Thursday.

The current lack of a federal law requiring stores to maintain some data security protections or notify consumers when their information is at risk “is having a huge impact on consumers everywhere and small financial institutions like credit unions struggle to make consumers whole in the wake of breaches they have no control over and didn’t contribute to,” she said.

The letter comes on the heels of news that 51 UPS locations were hacked as well as the recent attack at a major hospital operator that resulted in the theft of about 4.5 million patients’ data.

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