Help Us Stop The Data Breaches

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  CEO Video Message - Stop the Data Breaches

  Show Transcript

  Hello members, in my last video, I started out a bit light-hearted, in this video I would like to change gears and talk about something more serious - data breaches caused by merchants and retailers who do not have adequate security measures to protect YOUR personal data.

   

  Stores, restaurants, and other businesses are not subject to the same federal data protection standards as financial institutions. This means some businesses fail to invest sufficiently in data security measures.

   

  Right now, they shift most of the costs of their data breaches to others. There is no incentive for them to spend the time and money to increase their data security. That's wrong for consumers and it's bad for our economy.

   

  Because we are not-for-profit cooperative owned by our members, you ultimately foot the bill. After you've been victimized by having your financial data stolen, you shouldn't have to pick up the tab to clean up the mess.

  After the Target breach for example, credit unions paid $30.6 million, according to estimates by the Credit Union National Association. Additionally, credit unions reissued roughly 4.6 million credit and debit cards in the aftermath.  The data breach at Home Depot cost credit unions an estimated $57.4 million dollars.

   

  That's why Great Lakes Credit Union and other credit unions across the country are working together to improve protections for consumers who are victims of merchant data breaches.
  
  We're calling on Congress to step-up and protect credit union members by requiring:

  1. Merchants have a strong national data protection and consumer notification standard with effective enforcement provisions.
  2. Merchants have consistent federal data protection and notification standards.

  Please reach out to your Congressmen and let him or her know merchants need to be held accountable for THEIR data breaches! 

   

  We have created a landing page,

   

  G L C U dot org forward slash stop the data breaches,

   

   . . . where an email drafted for you that just requires your congressional representative’s contact information.  If you are unsure of your congressional representative’s contact information, you may go to the landing page where we have links for you.

   

  Please join us to help hold merchants responsible for their actions and to protect YOUR personal data!

   

  Thank you, in advance, for your help.

Stores, restaurants, and other businesses are not subject to the same federal data protection standards as financial institutions. This means some businesses fail to invest sufficiently in data security measures. As a result, it can be easier for hackers to gain access to a member’s credit card number, debit pin number, or other sensitive data. Hackers can then sell information or use it to illegally buy things with the stolen data.
For the past several years, data breaches have been increasing. Fraudsters gravitate to those with weakest controls.

When a data breach occurs, businesses are not required to pay the costs to send individuals their new cards and generally pay none of the fraudulent charges. In fact, when stores are responsible for the breach, they are rarely required to pay ANY costs. Financial institutions are stuck paying these costs for data breaches.

After the Target breach for example, credit unions paid $30.6 million, according to estimates by the Credit Union National Association (CUNA). Additionally, credit unions reissued roughly 4.6 million credit and debit cards in the aftermath. The data breach at Home Depot cost credit unions an estimated $57.4 million dollars.

WE HAVE A SOLUTION!

• Merchants must have strong national data protection and consumer notification standards with effective enforcement provisions.
• Merchants must have consistent federal data protection and notification standards. The costs of a data breach should ultimately be borne by the entity that incurs the breach.

YOU CAN HELP!

Please reach out to your Congressmen and let him or her know merchants need to be held accountable for THEIR data breaches! We have an email drafted for you that just requires your congressional representative’s contact information. If you are unsure of who your congressional representative is, please click the links below.
House Representative | Senate Representative

Please join us to help hold merchants responsible for their actions and to protect YOUR personal data!

JOIN US TODAY!