Equifax Breach Prompts Scrutiny, but New Rules May Not Follow<br />Meredith Griffanti, a spokeswoman for Equifax, said the company “works to ensure<br />that new legislation captures the benefits of credit reporting to the U. S. economy, as well as the effects of certain regulation on the financial system.”<br />“We believe in fair industry regulation,” she added, “and advocating for policies<br />that protect consumers’ rights, as well as the integrity of the consumer data industry.”<br />Congress has sounded warnings for decades.<br />At a congressional hearing last week, financial industry representatives pushed for legislation<br />that would chip away at consumer protection rules governing the three major credit reporting bureaus.<br />The credit bureau recently lobbied on a range of cybersecurity issues, including “data security<br />and breach notification,” “data breach response and identity protection” and “cybersecurity threat information sharing.”<br />Equifax lobbied on two bills under scrutiny at last week’s House hearing, including one called the F. C.R.<br />Hours later, one of the three bureaus, Equifax, disclosed a major data breach, which has<br />potentially compromised the sensitive personal data of more than 143 million Americans.
