Are Consumers in the Dark When It Comes to Stolen Online Information? Matthew Fleischer - TakePart
go to original September 6, 2013

On September 14, 2012, the national bookstore chain Barnes & Noble discovered that computer hackers had breached the company’s online security network, and stolen the credit card information and PIN numbers of customers in 63 different stores nationwide. One would think such a bold cyber-heist would invite immediate disclosure from Barnes & Noble, to tell customers their bank accounts may be in danger of hacking.

That, however, did not happen.

Instead, Barnes & Noble never contacted individual customers who may have been impacted by the hack – and took six weeks before making a broad announcement about the PIN thefts in the press. Officials in New York, one of the states where the hacks took place, told Barnes & Noble they could wait until Dec. 24 to tell the customers.

The delay was well within the law. Ironically, though 46 states have reporting requirements when it comes to stores informing customers if they have been hacked, those mandates are often at odds with one another, and nearly all somehow become inapplicable when the stolen information is encrypted.

... Nearly a year later, Congress is weighing whether to remedy that situation, and whether to impose strict federal reporting requirements on how companies should inform customers if their personal information has been stolen online.

Read the rest at TakePart

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