{"id":2239,"date":"2018-12-10T21:41:35","date_gmt":"2018-12-10T21:41:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/congress_action_mega_breaches\/"},"modified":"2020-08-20T14:15:15","modified_gmt":"2020-08-20T14:15:15","slug":"congress_action_mega_breaches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/congress_action_mega_breaches\/","title":{"rendered":"Will Congress\u202fstand by\u202fafter\u202fanother\u202fmega-breach?\u202f"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\"\"Once again, consumers are faced<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>with the news of a data breach affecting millions of Americans. This time, it was Marriott Hotels, the parent company of brands like Starwood, Westin, Sheraton, W, and the eponymous Marriott.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>Every<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>breach is bad, but this one looks particularly so. Mar<\/span><\/span>riott has acknowledged that information<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>belonging to up to 500 million hotel guests\u2019 data may have been exposed.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Thus far, Marriott has issued a statement revealing that an \u201cunau<\/span>thorized party\u201d copied\u00a0<\/span>and encrypted informa<\/span>tion, which<\/span>\u00a0included\u202f<\/span>personal data<\/span><\/a>\u202fsuch as “people\u2019s names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, passport numbers, dates of birth, gender, Starwood loyalty program account information, and reservation information.\u201d In short, the c<\/span>rooks got away with<\/span>\u00a0everything<\/span>\u00a0they would need to defraud millions of consumers.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Especially galling, it appears that the hackers had access to Marriott\u2019s system as far back as 2014 until<\/span>\u00a0the company detected the problem<\/span>\u00a0on September 8, 2018. This would mean that Marr<\/span>iott neglected to disclose the hack\u00a0<\/span>to the public for almost two months. Numerous\u202f<\/span>lawsuits have been filed<\/span><\/a>\u202fagainst Marriott. Plaintiffs from Oregon to Maryland have claimed that Marriott was negligent\u00a0<\/span>in\u00a0<\/span>its po<\/span>or management of their customers\u2019 personal information<\/span>\u00a0and consequently exposing them to identity fraud.\u202f<\/span>This cyberattack<\/span>\u00a0has surfaced as the\u202f<\/span>second worst<\/span>\u202frecorded data breach<\/span>\u00a0behind\u00a0<\/span>Yahoo\u2019s 3 billion<\/span>–<\/span>account hack<\/span>\u00a0in 2013.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>2018 comes to an<\/span>\u00a0end, the rise of attacks\u00a0<\/span>have become<\/span>\u00a0more and more unsettling. For example, earlier this year\u202f<\/span>Uber<\/span><\/a>\u202fsettled\u00a0<\/span>its\u00a0<\/span>hack<\/span>\u00a0and subsequent cover<\/span>–<\/span>up for $148 million.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>When the history of the Internet is\u202fwritten, data breaches will undoubtedly be cited as a key reason for consumers\u2019\u202fdeclining\u202f<\/span>trust in companies that collect their data<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Privacy advocates have called for stronger regulation of\u00a0<\/span>the\u00a0<\/span>companies tha<\/span>t handle massive amounts of their users\u2019 information<\/span>. Despite the growing frust<\/span>ration surrounding consumer<\/span>\u00a0privacy, Congress has failed to seriously introduce<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0let al<\/span>one pass<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0a federal consumer privacy<\/span>\u00a0bill.<\/span>\u202f<\/span>With th<\/span>e growing attention towards cyber hacks<\/span>, Congress must make passing a federal\u00a0<\/span>consumer privacy\u00a0<\/span>bill that holds companies more accountable a top priority. There should be real penaltie<\/span>s for those who handle their users\u2019 information<\/span>\u00a0irresponsibly.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This frustrating\u202f<\/span>status\u202f<\/span><\/em>quo<\/span><\/em>\u00a0may be changing,\u202fhowe<\/span>ver. Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR)<\/span>\u00a0has drafted his own \u201cConsumer Data Protection Act<\/span>,<\/span>\u201d which is the first to propose jail time for business executives that negligently or intentionally fail to disclose cyberattacks. Although the bill contains some strong protections such as regulatory authority for the\u00a0<\/span>Federal Trade\u00a0<\/span>Commission<\/span>, many believe it will not gain the\u202f<\/span>necessary traction<\/span>\u202fto pass both houses of Congress. Other bills<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0such as\u202f<\/span>Intel\u2019s<\/span>\u202f<\/span>privacy<\/span>\u00a0act<\/span>\u00a0discussion draft<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0also contains some much-needed protections. As it prepares to open a new session in January, Congress must address these massive data breaches and push for comprehensive legislation that will protect Americans.\u202f<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Once again, consumers are faced\u00a0with the news of a data breach affecting millions of Americans. This time, it was Marriott Hotels, the parent company of brands like Starwood, Westin, Sheraton, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13644,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2239"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2239"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2239\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13662,"href":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2239\/revisions\/13662"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}