House Committee Demands Sony Data Breach Answers
House Commerce Committee Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade Subcommittee Chairman Mary Bono Mack (R-CA) and Subcommittee Ranking Member G.K. Butterfield (D-NC) sent a joint letter to the Chairman of Sony Computer Entertainment America seeking information about the company’s recent data breach, which compromised the personal information of up to 77 million account holders.
The facts surrounding the breach, which occurred between April 17 and 19, still remain unclear and the extent of the damage is largely unknown. The letter states, “Given the amount and nature of personal information known to have been taken, the potential harm that could be caused if credit card information was also taken would be quite significant. The Subcommittee on Manufacturing, and Trade has a longstanding interest in consumer privacy, identity theft, and industry efforts to address threats posed by unauthorized access to consumers’ personal information resulting from a data breach.” The Committee is expected to introduce legislation on data security later this year and has scheduled a hearing on Wednesday, May 4, to discuss data theft issues.