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Aug. 25, 2014 – NAFCU Senior Vice President of Government Affairs and General Counsel Carrie Hunt's letter to Congress on the need for legislative action on data security was picked up by media outlets including The Hill and POLITICO.

In the wake of the recent data security breach announcement from UPS, POLITICO quoted Hunt telling Congressional leaders, "These numerous breaches should lead to serious pause for lawmakers. When Congress reconvenes in September, legislative action to address data breaches that occur at the hands of retailers must be a priority." The paper noted NAFCU's argument that financial institutions are already held to data security standards under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, and recalled previous calls for action from the association.

The Hill quoted Hunt saying the lack of a federal law "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."

The UPS breach may have compromised the data of as many as 105,000 customer transactions. There have been a recent string of retailer data breaches in the past couple weeks including Community Health Systems Inc. and nationwide supermarket chain Supervalu.

NAFCU was the first financial trade association to call for a national data security standard for retailers in the wake of the massive Target data breach last year, and has been steadfast in its push for legislative action on Capitol Hill.