ONTARIO, Calif.–The California and Nevada Credit Union Leagues are reporting they were able to secure a “small but significant” win for credit unions with language included in the recent COVID-19 stimulus and omnibus spending bill passed by Congress.
The leagues noted that included in the government funding portion of the bill is a threat assessment and briefing to Congress from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) on the topic of vulnerabilities of point-of-sale and online purchase systems. The leagues reported the assessment came following conversations between the CNCUL advocacy team and Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA), vice chairman of the House Appropriations Committee and member of the subcommittee on Homeland Security.
“In pre-pandemic conversations discussing credit union issues, the leagues expressed concern that data breaches continued to plague credit unions and while the House and Senate lack consensus on legislation, we could be aided by examining the root cause of breaches,” said Leagues VP-Federal Government Affairs Jeremy Empol. “The result was asking for direct input from the government agency that oversees cybersecurity to weigh on how to help break the logjam on this issue.”
Small Provision Added
According to the leagues, Aguilar and Lucile Roybal-Allard (D-CA), chairwoman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, added a small provision into the funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security, requiring the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to conduct a review of “basically why data breaches occur at the point-of-sale or card-not-present transaction. CISA then must provide information to the appropriate committees of Congress along with recommendations to address this issue.”
According to Empol, the path to law includes checking multiple boxes, and that while a threat assessment and review of the problem seems nominal, in the end having an agency suggest options for a resolution brings additional credibility to this issue impacting credit unions.
“This won’t change the policy overnight—think of it as a getting a runner to first or a 20-yard pass down the field—they are all important steps in get to the goal,” Empol added.