WASHINGTON–CUNA has renewed its call for Congress to create a national data security framework.
A priority of both credit union trade associations, efforts to enact data security legislation in the wake of numerous data breaches has struggled in Congress in large part due to pushback by the retail industry.
“America’s focus on national security must extend beyond strictly physical concerns like our border and our defense interests,” said CUNA President/CEO Jim Nussle. “It is imperative that we protect our nation’s digital infrastructure from the ever-increasing cyber-attacks that create financial calamity, jeopardize Americans’ privacy, and monetarily bolster foreign bad actors. The current patchwork of data security and privacy regulations creates gaps through which cybercriminals continue to exploit every American’s personal and financial data. If our leaders are serious about protecting Americans, then real solutions to data security and privacy must be a priority.”
CUNA said enhancing information security continues to be a priority issue of concern for credit unions and is a key pillar in its 2019 advocacy agenda. CUNA cited research from the Identify Theft Research Center that found more than 1.5 billion records have been exposed and nearly 10,000 breaches reported since 2005. In 2018, alone, 446.5 million records were exposed.