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April 25, 2013 - NAFCU on Wednesday urged Senate leaders to take up data security measures that would protect consumers' personally identifiable information when the Senate considers the cyber security issue.

NAFCU Vice President of Legislative Affairs Brad Thaler, in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., recalled the large-scale data breaches at companies like Michaels Inc. and Sony. In these instances, credit unions and other financial institutions were left to notify account holders, issue new cards, replenish stolen funds, change account numbers and accommodate the increased consumer demands that followed.

"The risk of a data breach continues to be a serious problem for both consumers and businesses," Thaler wrote. He said consumers trust that the entities that collect their data will make at least a minimal effort to protect it but that often isn't the case. And when a breach affects credit union members' data, the credit unions end up paying for the clean-up. Thaler urged that merchants and other firms be subject to data protection standards already imposed on financial institutions under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. Data security measures are a key part of NAFCU's five-point plan on regulatory relief.

The House has already passed a package of cyber security measures and sent those bills to the Senate. The Senate could act on those measures or take up its own package.