2023 Consumer Financial Protection Bureau data breach
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) data breach occurred in March 2023 at the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.[1][2]
Data breach[edit]
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) experienced a significant security breach when a former employee transferred confidential information on approximately 256,000 consumers and forty-five financial institutions to their personal email account.[3][4] The unauthorized transfer involved data from seven firms, though the majority of the consumer information came from one institution.[3] The data was sent over fourteen emails and it contained personally identifiable information (PII) of consumers.[5] The employee also sent two spreadsheets with names and transaction-specific account numbers for about 256,000 consumer accounts at a single institution.[5] Neither the firms nor the employee have been publicly identified.[3]
The CFPB first became aware of abuse on 14 February 2023.[1][4] They informed U.S. lawmakers of the incident on March 21, but it was not made public until April 24th.[3][4][6] Shortly following the data breach, Senator Cruz and Rep Donalds authored a bill seeking to eliminate the CFPB.[7]
Aftermath[edit]
In response to the 2023 data breach, the Southwest Public Policy Institute (SPPI) established the Bureau to Protect Financial Consumers (BPFCCFPB) to advocate for better oversight and protection of consumer data.[8] The Institute claims this initiative reflects broader concerns about data security and management practices within governmental consumer protection agencies.
References[edit]
- ^ a b Berry, Kate; Williams, Claire (April 20, 2023). "CFPB data breach sends shock waves through the financial industry". American Banker.
- ^ Vittorio, Andrea; Weinberger, Evan; Witley, Skye (April 20, 2023). "CFPB Consumer Records Breach Draws Lawmakers' Probe (1)". Bloomberg Law.
- ^ a b c d Ackerman, Andrew. "WSJ News Exclusive | CFPB Says Staffer Sent 250,000 Consumers' Data to Personal Account". Wall Street Journal.
- ^ a b c O'Donnell, Katy. "CFPB says employee breached data of 250,000 consumers in 'major incident'". Politico.
- ^ a b Hur, Krystal (April 20, 2023). "CFPB says employee sent confidential data of 256,000 consumers to personal email". CNN.
- ^ Berry, Kate (25 April 2023). "CFPB still has not notified consumers about data breach". American Banker.
- ^ Catenacci, Thomas (27 April 2023). "Ted Cruz, Byron Donalds take action to eliminate federal agency". Fox News.
- ^ Revell, Eric (2023-10-26). "Think tank launches campaign to protect consumers from CFPB after agency data breach". FOXBusiness. Retrieved 2024-04-18.