InfoBytes Blog
California AG Releases Data Breach Report, Proposes Data Security Policy Changes
On July 1, California Attorney General Kamala Harris (AG) released a report analyzing data breaches reported to her office in 2012, the first year companies were required to report to the AG any breach involving more than 500 state residents. The report identifies 131 data breach incidents that put the personal information of 2.5 million individuals at risk. The AG noted that the report is not required by the law, but provides support for the AG’s recommendations to companies, law enforcement agencies, and the legislature about how data security could be improved. Those policy recommendations focus on (i) data encryption, (ii) information security, (iii)notice letters, and (iv) the definition of personal information.
Specifically, the AG claimed that the information for 1.4 million Californians would have been protected if companies had encrypted data, and urges companies to encrypt digital personal information when moving or sending it out of their secure network. The AG pledged to prioritize enforcement investigations of breaches involving unencrypted personal information. The AG’s report notes that a large percentage of breaches surveyed resulted from the failure of information security controls and references requirements under state law to protect the personal information of California residents.
The AG also stated that companies should make their data breach notices to consumers easier to read, and that the state legislature should consider expanding breach notice requirements to cover breaches involving passwords. The AG highlighted a pending bill, SB 46, that would revise the notice requirement’s definition of personal information to require reporting of breaches involving information that would permit access to an online account - user name or email address, in combination with a password or security question and answer. That bill has already passed the state Senate and was approved by the Assembly’s Judiciary Committee. It is scheduled to be considered by the Assembly’s Appropriations Committee on July 3, 2013.