September 10, 2014
Monica Jackson
Office of the Executive Secretary
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
1275 First Street, NEa
Washington, DC 20002
Re: Request for Information Regarding the Use of Mobile Financial Services by Consumers and Its Potential for Improving the Financial Lives of Economically Vulnerable Consumers
Docket No. CFPB-2014-0012
Association of Information Technology Professionals
San Diego Chapter
Cyber Liability Event, San Diego, California, July 23, 2014
Data Breach Readiness and Follow-up: Being Prepared for the Inevitable
Presentation by Beth Givens, Executive Director, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse
Thank you for the opportunity to participate in this discussion on data breaches this evening.
Virtually every American adult uses at least one, and usually several, financial products. These include credit cards, pre-paid cards, bank accounts, credit reporting, mortgages, loans, and money transfers.
When problems occur, the consequences can be severe: for example, the inability to obtain credit; difficulty getting a mortgage; and being hounded by debt collectors for someone else’s debt.
Testimony by Beth Givens, Executive Director, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse (July 17, 2014, El Paso TX)
The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse (PRC) is a nonprofit consumer education and advocacy organization. We are 21 years old and are located in San Diego, California.
The PRC takes complaints and questions from the general public on a variety of informational privacy issues. These include: debt collection, financial privacy, social media, medical records, employment topics, and Social Security numbers, among others.
Shortly after its founding, Facebook had developed a rather simple privacy policy: “No personal information that you submit to Thefacebook will be available to any user of the Web Site who does not belong to at least one of the groups specified by you in your privacy settings.”
We live in a “social world.” Parents have many opportunities to disclose information about their children in social forums – by posting family news and photos on Facebook, tweeting your child’s latest accomplishments in sports, even launching a blog.
Social media can be a great tool for parents, but how do you know when you are sharing too much information about your kids?
As we become increasingly reliant on digital data, we sometimes take for granted that the companies we entrust with our information are taking the necessary steps to keep it safe. Many are, but many are still way behind and that is what the hackers, cybercriminals and scam artists are counting on.
The fake debt collector scam is particularly disturbing. While the scam isn’t a new one, criminals are finding innovative ways to accomplish their goals of stealing your money, your identity, or both.
The data broker industry has been on the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse’s (PRC) radar for over a decade, and we continue to receive questions and complaints about data brokers almost every day. Lawmakers, regulators, and media have focused more attention on the industry in recent years, but it is still difficult for individuals to understand what is going on and why they are unable to exercise any meaningful control over their information.
The White House recently released a report on big data. While it was highly anticipated by people who closely follow data privacy issues, chances are that it wasn't on the radar of most individuals. Even so, we believe it is an issue that everybody should start thinking about.
Why is big data a significant privacy challenge?
Passwords are dead. Or so we keep hearing. On their own, passwords clearly aren't the best way to protect our important information and accounts. However, for better or worse passwords are still very much alive until the next solution comes along and is widely adopted.