SALEM, Oregon (Legal Newsline) — Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum announced Feb. 9 that she had testified before the Oregon Senate Judiciary Committee in support of data breach legislation, Senate Bill 1551. The bill was developed to strength data breach laws in the state after the Equifax breach affected 1.7 million consumers in Oregon.
“This breach taught us an important lesson—data breaches can happen anywhere, and with any company—large or small. The Equifax breach was not reported for quite some time, even though the company knew of it. This means precious time was ticking away,” Rosenblum said in a statement.
“Under this bill, companies still must report a breach as fast as possible—but within 45 days. Companies also cannot promote ‘free credit monitoring’ services, but then ask the consumer to give over their credit card information. These seems like common sense solutions to a growing problem.”
Senate Bill 1551 would mandate that companies report data breaches within 45 days of the breach. Additionally, under the bill, credit agencies would be limited in charging to freeze or unfreeze credit information.
“In today’s hyper-connected world, the next big data breach is not just a matter of if, but when,” Rosenblum said in her prepared testimony. “Data will continue to evolve, and we must evolve with it. The Equifax data breach has sadly served to remind us that our work is not done. I am thankful to Sen. Floyd Prozanski and his work group for bringing forward this important legislation, and I urge the passage of SB 1551.”