Last week, Sony’s PlayStation Network announced 77 million users’ data had been breached. In response, Today, House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade Chairman Mary Bono Mack (R-CA) held a hearing on the threat of data theft to American consumers.
The hearing examined risks related to data breaches, the state of ongoing investigations, current industry data security practices, and available technology.
Committee lawmakers discussed the recent data breaches from companies like Sony, Epsilon and ChoicePoint. They expanded the conversation to review the need to create a federal data breach notification law to protect customer's personal information when it is lost or stolen.
Witnesses at the hearing included; David Vladeck, director of the Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Consumer Protection along with Pablo Martinez, deputy special agent in charge of criminal investigations at the United States Secret Service. The Committee will also hear from consumer advocate Justin Broookman and Technology and information security expert Eugene Spafford of Purdue University.
A spokesman for Chairman Mack said Sony declined to testify today citing “an ongoing investigation” with an outside security firm and law enforcement.