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Despite recent news of the Home Depot data breach affecting more consumers than even the Target data breach late last year, as NAFCU's Carrie Hunt told The Hill Wednesday, Congress is likely to wait to address the issue until 2015.

"This is going to be even more of an impact than Target [on] our members and consumers and credit unions," Hunt, NAFCU's senior vice president of government affairs and general counsel, toldThe Hill.

Also in this week's news:

• Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Rockefeller, D-W.Va., toldThe Hill, "It's clear that this threat to consumers isn't going away. With the data of millions more at risk, Americans should start asking their senators and representatives why there are no basic protections in place to safeguard them." Rockefeller, with Subcommittee Chairman Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., in action lauded by NAFCU, sought a briefing from Home Depot relating to the breach earlier this month.
• On Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal quoted NAFCU-member Air Academy Federal Credit Union in Colorado Springs, Colo., which said it has caught about $20,000 worth of attempted fraudulent transactions so far on exposed cards. The story was also picked up in Australia and Politico.
• NAFCU Director of Legislative Affairs Jillian Pevo told CBS MoneyWatch Wednesday that credit unions will make their members whole if they are impacted by the data breach, but that comes at a cost for the financial institutions. According to a NAFCU survey, each credit union respondent faced costs of $45,000 related to the Target breach, which included added employee hours to meet the needs of their members as well as card re-issuance.
• WSJ also reported Wednesday that federal security agencies are warning retailers that the malware program used in the Home Depot attack, which they are calling Mozart, has not ever been seen before.

Lawsuits

The home improvement chain faces lawsuits filed by First Choice Federal Credit Union of Pennsylvania and Southern Chautauqua Federal Credit Union of New York. Another suit was filed on behalf of customers who shopped at the chain's Canadian locations.

NAFCU has testified before Congress on the need for a national data security standard for retailers and continues to press for legislative action on the issue.