In the US, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) informed lawmakers about the data leak.
Source: motionarray.com
A former employee of this bureau sent confidential information of 256 thousand consumers and supervisory data on 45 financial institutions to his e-mail account, which is prohibited from being placed in the public access space.
The CFPB notified lawmakers of the privacy violation on March 21. The Bureau described the happened as a major incident. At the same time, no information was provided about the employee who forwarded confidential data and about the reasons for his actions.
A representative of the CFPB said that the bureau takes the security of personal data very seriously and perceives their unauthorized transfer as an unacceptable practice. He also noted that all employees of the organization know their responsibilities in the context of compliance with the standards of protection of confidential information.
A representative of the CFPB said that there is currently no evidence that an employee of the bureau involved in the violation of privacy standards shared data with anyone else. He noted that there are no guarantees that there is no risk of using confidential information to gain access to consumers’ bank accounts.
The CFPB asked the former employee to delete emails containing personal data and provide confirmation that this was done. But this request was ignored.
Experts say that the incident may cause an increase in negative criticism of the CFPB related to the organization’s practice of collecting the personal data of consumers. Earlier, Republican lawmakers said that the bureau’s actions threaten the safety of confidential information.
Republicans are also asking the CFPB for more details about the hack. They claim that the bureau did not provide all the information about the data leak.
The incident occurred about nine months after the CFPB implemented new rules to ensure the protection of confidential information and cybersecurity. These rules establish standards for the use of credit reports by companies and their distribution following the Law on Honest Credit Reports.
As we have reported earlier, CFPB Issues Warning to Abusive Consumer Finance Firms.
