That’s a data security breach, for those of you who haven’t been following the latest major debacle in the world of consumer information safety.
This latest breach occurred in the Sony PlayStation Network, sometime between April 17 and 19. The names, addresses, email addresses, birthdates, passwords, and logins of something in the neighborhood of 77 million worldwide users were compromised. “While there is no evidence at this time that credit card data was taken, we cannot rule out the possibility,” wrote senior corporate communications director Patrick Seybold.
Shortly before the Sony breach, the data security world reeled with news about a data breach at Epsilon, the world’s largest provider of permission-based email marketing. While the list of Epsilon clients whose customer e-mail addresses were stolen is not complete, so far it seems clear that Target, Kroger, TiVo, US Bank, JPMorgan Chase, Capital One, Citi, Home Shopping Network, Ameriprise Financial, LL Bean Visa Card, McKinsey & Company, Ritz-Carlton Rewards, Marriott Rewards, New York & Company, Brookstone, Walgreens, The College Board, Disney Destinations, and Best Buy have all been affected.
That size of these breaches was sufficient to get the attention of the U.S. House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade, which held a hearing May 3 on data theft and its effects on consumers. Witnesses included data security experts from the public and private areas. The witnesses all supported some form of data privacy legislation to address not only data breaches and notification, but also effective information security practices.
Notable by their absence were any representatives of either Sony or Epsilon. Subcommittee Chairwoman Rep. Mary Bono Mack (R-CA) took the companies to task for not testifying at the hearing. And she criticized Sony for not notifying customers about the breach in a timely manner.
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In a written response to the Subcommittee, Kazuo Hirai, chairman of the board for Sony Computer Entertainment America, said “I believe that after you review all the facts, you will agree that the company has been acting in good faith to release reliable information in accordance with its legal and ethical responsibilities to its valued customers.”
Sony’s “good faith” was called into question by Gene Spafford of Purdue University, who testified that Sony knew it was using outdated software months before the attacks.
Once again, Congress is trying to address the problem of data breaches with legislation requiring companies engaged in interstate commerce to implement stringent data security and consumer notification measures. House bills H.R. 1707 and 1841, both titled the Data Accountability and Trust Act, were introduced following the Subcommittee hearings.
The fate of this legislation is far from certain. Past security breaches did little to create much energy for similar legislation in previous Congresses. Whether the breaches at Sony and Epsilon are sufficiently serious to spur Congressional action remains to be seen.