Press

CUNA responded to White House’s Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center, calls for merchant breach accountability

WASHINGTON, DC (February 11, 2015) — The White House has announced the creation of a new federal agency, the Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center, to analyze threats to the nation’s cybersecurity and coordinate strategy to combat them. In September, CUNA sent a letter to President Obama urging him to establish a new Cybersecurity Council. While CUNA generally supports containing our federal government, more focus is needed on cybersecurity at the national level on issues such as the role of merchants in securing consumers’ personal financial data.

CUNA President and CEO Jim Nussle issued the following statement regarding the new agency:

“Data breaches – no matter how they occur – are a huge and growing problem for the county and the president’s announcement is a strong acknowledgement of the need for action in this area.

“Countless Americans have been affected by merchant data breaches. Until merchants are held to the same federal data protection and notification standard as financial institutions and until the costs of a data breach are ultimately borne by the entity that incurs the breach, there will be no end in sight. Merchants must be held accountable to stop American consumers’ personal financial information from being compromised.”

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