JOHNSON OPENING STATEMENT ON CYBERSECURITY HEARING

WASHINGTON – Today, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Johnson (D-SD) held a hearing on cybersecurity and data protection in the financial sector.

“The Banking Committee meets today to hear testimony about data protection and cybersecurity issues in the financial sector. 

 

“Over the past 12 years, the Committee has enacted several pieces of legislation to protect consumer data held by financial institutions.  Federal financial regulators under the Committee’s jurisdiction have issued extensive rules and guidance on data practices that require the institutions they regulate to keep data secure, notify customers and regulators when breaches occur, authenticate customers, and notify customers about how their sensitive information may be used. 

 

“Recent high-profile data breaches at major institutions within the financial sector and elsewhere underscore the importance of cybersecurity for the American economy.  Breaches are disruptive and raise the potential for financial fraud, identity theft and, potentially, severe threats to our national economic security.  This is an important issue that deserves the Committee’s careful attention and continued oversight.  Today, I invite the witnesses to share their views in three areas:

 

-          The current regulation of data practices affecting financial institutions and their customers

 

-          The current state of data privacy protection, data breaches and cybersecurity in the financial sector

 

-          How legislative proposals, such as the Administration’s cybersecurity bill, would affect financial institutions and would interact with existing regulation

 

 

“I look forward to the testimony of our witnesses, and to the question and answer period.”

 

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