Milestones: Defending against data breaches

‘Your personal information has been compromised’

It was the worst breach of personal data in history.

In September 2017, Equifax announced that a hack of its records had compromised the most sensitive financial information of nearly 150 million Americans — who suddenly needed to know how to protect themselves against identity theft and credit fraud.

Ed Mierzwinski, Mike Litt and the rest of PIRG’s consumer team published a series of guides to help people address the many “what if” scenarios created by the Equifax breach. For example, the team made an instructional video showing how to freeze your credit report, which, in the event that your identity is stolen or compromised, helps ensure the thief can’t damage your credit score, and in fact blocks them from opening up any new accounts or otherwise accessing your information. (More on credit report freezes later.)

Mike and Ed were also interviewed on Washington Journal to keep viewers up to speed on the best ways to stay safe from scams and identity theft in the wake of the breach.

‘Freeze!’

The scale of the Equifax data breach, which was, according to a congressional investigation, “entirely preventable,” prompted a reckoning on just how little responsibility the credit bureaus were assuming for the sensitive information of millions of Americans — information that consumers hadn’t asked them to collect in the first place.

Consumers and advocacy groups alike were fed up with the idea that a credit bureau’s inadequate security precautions could put you at risk of identity theft and then turn around and charge you a fee for a credit report freeze. Making credit freezes free could make a major and immediate positive impact for the 150 million Americans whose data was compromised by the Equifax breach.

So when U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Brian Schatz (Hawaii) introduced the Freedom from Equifax Exploitation (FREE) Act in Congress, PIRG rallied public support. We mobilized our members and supporters to send thousands of messages urging Congress to pass the FREE Act, and Ed, Mike and Elise kept a spotlight on the issue in the media.

Meanwhile, years earlier PIRG had teamed with Consumers Union (now known as Consumer Reports) to draft a model credit freeze law. By 2017, most states had passed a version of the law but one that limited free freezes to previous identity theft victims and seniors. MASSPIRG staff, led by Janet Domenitz and Deirdre Cummings, campaigned in support of a bill that would eliminate any fees Massachusetts residents pay to freeze or thaw their credit reports. After months of work with a diverse array of stakeholders, including Attorney General Maura Healey, MASSPIRG celebrated the bill’s passage in the state House in early 2018.

Then, that summer, Congress made credit freezes free for consumers. The provision was included in a set of revisions of the Dodd-Frank Act in 2010 after the Great Recession.

More reform needed

There are still plenty of problems in the credit reporting industry. The credit bureaus aren’t held fully accountable for their mistakes and misdeeds. Even before a congressional investigation showed the 2017 breach was preventable, NPR reported that three Equifax executives sold nearly $2 million in company stock just days after the breach and weeks before the event was disclosed to the public.

Americans also still find mistakes and inaccuracies on their credit reports every day. These mistakes can have a lasting impact on a consumer’s financial life, including their ability to get a job or buy a home. PIRG has supported comprehensive financial reform, such as the Comprehensive Credit Act, to fix these and other lingering problems in the world of consumer credit and data security.

About this series: PIRG and The Public Interest Network have achieved much more than we can cover on this page. You can find more milestones of our work on financial protection below. You can also explore an interactive timeline featuring more of our network’s financial protection milestones.