In response to a major data breach at Equifax, Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT) introduced legislation requiring credit reporting agencies to allow consumers to freeze their information, free of charge, in the event of a data breach.
The goal of the Credit Information Protection Act of 2017 (H.R. 3766), Himes said, is to ensure that when personal information does fall into the wrong hands it is as easy as possible for people to mitigate the damage.
The recent breach at Equifax exposed the personal information of tens of millions of Americans to potential hackers, identity theft, and credit problems
“After the recent breach, millions of people are rightly concerned about having so much of their personal information exposed,” Himes said. “One of the first and most important steps that individuals can take to protect themselves is freezing access to their credit information until they can work with credit reporting agencies to determine their exposure.”
Himes strongly believe that victims should not have to bear the burden of paying for security freezes. It completely unacceptable for a company to profit from the fee charged to freeze files after such a security failure, he added.
“I hope that Equifax steps up and covers the fees necessary to institute a freeze at all other credit bureaus for all affected consumers in this instance,” Himes said.