Press

Retail data breaches top concern for credit unions on Cyber Monday

WASHINGTON, DC (December 1, 2014) — Jim Nussle, President and CEO of the Credit Union National Association, issued the following statement:

“On this Cyber Monday — the biggest online shopping day of the year – credit unions and CUNA remain very concerned that most retailers are doing little or nothing to stop data breaches. Under today’s standards for retailers, it’s not a question of if retailers will be breached again – whether online or at their brick and mortar stores – it’s only a matter of when. And credit unions will once again be left holding the bag to protect their members.

“A year ago, Target allowed its customers’ data to be breached and fall into the hands of criminals. To date, Target has yet to pay a penny to financial institutions – including the $30 million credit unions and their members incurred – to cover the costs that the data breach imposed on them. And costs to credit unions have continued to add up this year. The Home Depot cost credit unions nearly double the Target breach, meaning that credit unions have spent at least $90 million on just those two data breaches. It’s high time for retailers to take responsibility and adopt the same data standards as financial institutions under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. Unless standards at merchants are raised, there’s little hope for consumer protection at retailers.”

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