The top ranking Democrat on the U.S. Senate Banking Committee pressed data collection and credit firm Experian for information on the recent data breach that exposed the personal details of around 15 million T-Mobile customers, hinting that Experian’s credit monitoring and identity theft resolution services should be questioned for effectiveness.
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) wrote to the company, “Experian has files on more than 220 million people. Protection of this information is of the utmost importance, especially because the scope of the information is vast and virtually no consumer can apply for credit without entering your system. As we have seen repeatedly over the past few years, large companies are vulnerable to breaches of consumer information and the financial industry is a prime target for such attacks. I hope that your company takes meaningful steps to address vulnerabilities and to provide meaningful relief to those people whose privacy has been breached.”
Brown requested information on Experian’s plans to resolve security vulnerabilities and asked “how the breach of Experian’s own systems will impact the advice the company provides to financial institutions.”
He wrote, “Is Experian a member of information sharing organizations like Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center? If so, when did Experian share information related to the breach through these forums? Are you aware of any similar activity at other companies?”
Erin is the managing editor of Advisen’s Front Page News. She has been covering property-casualty insurance since 2000. Previously, Erin served as editor-in-chief of The Standard, New England’s Insurance Weekly. Erin is based in Boston, Mass. Contact Erin at [email protected].
