Last month, Target announced that hackers compromised the credit information of some 40 million customers. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) wants to make sure that doesn’t happen again.
The Connecticut democrat is proposing legislation for what his office described as, “immensely strengthened safeguards against hacking.”
“We need protection against cyber-attacks for major retailers, [we need to] hold them accountable,” said Sen. Blumenthal.
Senator Blumenthal said customers’ information must be protected each time they swipe their credit card. Because so many Americans rely on credit to make purchases, the senator is pressuring retailers to install better software to fend off hackers.
“The retailers have to be as skilled and serious as the hackers in providing a cyber-fortress with walls around consumer data, so they’re protected from these cyber-attacks.”
Senator Blumenthal said under his proposal, retailers who fail to protect their customers’ information could face fines.
“Retailers who fail to protect consumers and install these firewalls…ought to be held accountable monetarily…and that’s what my legislation would do.”
However, the senator still needs a majority of his senate colleagues to agree, and he’s confident they will.
Local
“Clearly, Target is just the tip of the information theft iceberg, and congress is growing in awareness.”
