Companies housing sensitive consumer data should have to alert individuals when their data has been compromised, the Federal Trade Commission told a Congressional committee.
Furthermore, both the Commission and Congress need to assess whether recent data breaches are cause for new legal requirements among data handlers, FTC chair Deborah Platt Majoras testified.
Majoras, who spoke in front of the Senate’s Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, said that existing rules cover information maintained by credit bureaus, entities that use credit reports and financial businesses. But they do not cover other organizations that may use sensitive consumer information.
Majoras recommended that Congress weigh whether existing safeguards be extended. Specifically, she asked Congress to consider extending the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Safeguards Rule to non-financial institutions.
She also said that the FTC needs new tools to investigate whether consumer data being shipped out of the United States is in compliance with U.S. security requirements. Current law, she noted, does not authorize the FTC to share its investigative findings with foreign consumer protection agencies, even if such sharing would further the FTC’s own investigations.
Majoras gave her testimony with unanimous approval of the five FTC commissioners.
