U.S. Senator Mark Pryor today sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission urging the Chairman to investigate the recent data breach of Epsilon, an online marketing firm that handles email lists for companies such as Target, Best Buy, Walgreens, and Citi Group.
Pryor said the information that was stolen is likely limited to e-mail addresses and possibly names. However, he is concerned this information alone will lead to a surge of phishing attacks – emails disguised to be from a legitimate business but are intended to steal more personal information, including account numbers, usernames, passwords or Social Security numbers.
As Chairman of the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Insurance, Pryor has worked to strengthen data security, breach notification, and identify theft prevention. Last August, he introduced the Data Security and Breach Notification Act which would require businesses and non-profits that store consumers’ personal information to establish strong security features to safeguard sensitive data, alert customers when data has been breached, and provide affected individuals with the tools to protect their credit and finances.
Pryor’s letter to FTC Jon Chairman Leibowitz can be found here.
