Sen Leahy brings back data privacy bill

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) reintroduced a sweeping bill that aims to protect Americans’ data from cyber thieves. Chairman Leahy said that Target's recent data breach “is a reminder that developing a comprehensive national strategy to protect data privacy and cybersecurity remains one of the most challenging and important issues facing our nation.” The Personal Data Privacy and Security Act would impose criminal penalties for people who hide security breaches that damage consumers, require companies that maintain databases with personal information to protect them and establish a nationwide standard for notifying consumers after a data breach.