Governor Cuomo is responding to the Equifax cyberattack with a proposed regulation that would force credit reporting agencies to register with New York State, and to comply with New York’s cybersecurity standard.
New York is the first of the 50 states to adopt cybersecurity requirements on businesses that collect personal data on its citizens. The new regulation will require Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, the big three credit agencies, to make annual reports to the state’s Division of Financial Services. DFS will have authority to review and potentially deny credit reporting companies’ authorization to do business in New York and can also inspect when it thinks something may be wrong.
Governor Cuomo says in a statement that oversight of credit reporting agencies will help make sure vital data is less vulnerable to data thieves. He says the Equifax hack was a wakeup call and New York is raising the bar for security of consumer data.