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 Representative Lee Terry, who chairs the commerce, manufacturing and
trade subcommittee of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce,
said in a statement that a hearing conducted by his panel would
examine such data breaches and their effect on consumers.
The subcommittee said it expects to take testimony from law
enforcement officials and others, in addition to one or more
representatives of Target, the third largest U.S. retailer.
Target has said a breach of its networks during the busy holiday
shopping period resulted in the theft of about 40 million credit and
debit card records and 70 million other records with customer
information such as addresses and telephone numbers.
"By examining these recent breaches and their consequences on
consumers, we hope to gain a better understanding of the nature of
these crimes and what steps can be taken to further protect
information and limit cyber threats," Terry said.
The subcommittee has approached the U.S. Secret Service, the lead
investigator into recent data breaches at both Target and Neiman
Marcus, and its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security,
about participating in the hearing, a subcommittee official said.
Because the Target breach is under active investigation, the amount
of detail that will discussed at the hearing on how the breach
occurred and where investigations are headed is unclear.
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Instead, the official said, the main objective of the hearing would
be to examine how consumers were affected by the data breach and
what they can do to protect themselves against such data intrusions.
"We are continuing to work (with) elected officials to keep them
informed and updated as our investigation continues," Target said."
No federal laws exist that set out standard rules for when and how
companies must report data breaches to customers and law enforcement
agencies
As a result, the lack of federal regulations means that U.S.
agencies such as the Secret Service may not have been notified by
companies of all major recent breaches.
Separately, leaders of the Senate Commerce Committee have written to
Target seeking information about the recent breach from the
retailer's security officials.
(Reporting by Mark Hosenball; additional
reporting by Dhanya Skariachan; editing by Ros Krasny and Steve
Orlofsky)
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