I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2545 

To create an Office of Cybersecurity at the Federal Trade Commission for 

supervision of data security at consumer reporting agencies, to require 

the promulgation of regulations establishing standards for effective cybersecurity at consumer reporting agencies, to impose penalties on credit 

reporting agencies for cybersecurity breaches that put sensitive consumer 

data at risk, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 7, 2019 

Mr. CUMMINGS (for himself and Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To create an Office of Cybersecurity at the Federal Trade 

Commission for supervision of data security at consumer 

reporting agencies, to require the promulgation of regulations establishing standards for effective cybersecurity 

at consumer reporting agencies, to impose penalties on 

credit reporting agencies for cybersecurity breaches that 

put sensitive consumer data at risk, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Data Breach Preven3 tion and Compensation Act of 2019’’. 

4 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

5 In this Act: 

6 (1) AFFECTED CONSUMER.—The term ‘‘af7 fected consumer’’ means any individual to whom 

8 personally identifying information pertains that was, 

9 or that may have been, affected by a covered breach. 

10 (2) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ has the 

11 meaning given the term in section 551 of title 5, 

12 United States Code. 

13 (3) CAREER APPOINTEE.—The term ‘‘career 

14 appointee’’ has the meaning given the term in sec15 tion 3132(a) of title 5, United States Code. 

16 (4) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 

17 means the Federal Trade Commission. 

18 (5) CONSUMER REPORT; CONSUMER REPORTING

19 AGENCY.—The terms ‘‘consumer report’’ and ‘‘con20 sumer reporting agency’’ have the meanings given 

21 the terms in section 603 of the Fair Credit Report22 ing Act (15 U.S.C. 1681a). 

23 (6) COVERED BREACH.—The term ‘‘covered 

24 breach’’ means any instance in which not less than 

25 1 piece of personally identifying information held by 

26 a covered consumer reporting agency is exposed, or 


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1 is reasonably likely to have been exposed, to an un2 authorized party. 

3 (7) COVERED CONSUMER REPORTING AGEN4 CY.—The term ‘‘covered consumer reporting agency’’ 

5 means— 

6 (A) a consumer reporting agency described 

7 in section 603(p) of the Fair Credit Reporting 

8 Act (15 U.S.C. 1681a(p)); or 

9 (B) a consumer reporting agency that 

10 earns not less than $7,000,000 in annual rev11 enue from the sale of consumer reports. 

12 (8) DETAIL.—The term ‘‘detail’’ means a tem13 porary assignment of an employee to a different po14 sition for a specified period, with the employee re15 turning to the regular duties of the employee at the 

16 end of the specified period. 

17 (9) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 

18 the Director of the Office. 

19 (10) OFFICE.—The term ‘‘Office’’ means the 

20 Office of Cybersecurity established under section 

21 3(a). 

22 (11) PERSONALLY IDENTIFYING INFORMA23 TION.—The term ‘‘personally identifying informa24 tion’’ means, with respect to an individual— 


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1 (A) the social security number of the indi2 vidual; 

3 (B) a driver’s license number of the indi4 vidual; 

5 (C) a passport number of the individual; 

6 (D) an alien registration number or other 

7 government-issued unique identification number 

8 of the individual; 

9 (E) unique biometric data, such as a 

10 faceprint, a fingerprint, a voice print, an iris 

11 image, or any other unique physical representa12 tion of the individual; 

13 (F) the first and last name of the indi14 vidual, or the first initial of the first name and 

15 the last name of the individual, in combination 

16 with any information that relates to— 

17 (i) the past, present, or future phys18 ical or mental health or condition of the in19 dividual; or 

20 (ii) the provision of health care to, or 

21 a diagnosis of, the individual; 

22 (G)(i) a financial account number, debit 

23 card number, or credit card number of the indi24 vidual; or 


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1 (ii) any passcode required to access an ac2 count described in clause (i); and 

3 (H) such additional information, as deter4 mined by the Director. 

5 SEC. 3. CYBERSECURITY STANDARDS AND FTC AUTHORITY. 

6 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in the 

7 Commission an Office of Cybersecurity, which shall be 

8 headed by a Director, who shall be a career appointee. 

9 (b) DUTIES.—The Office— 

10 (1) shall— 

11 (A) supervise covered consumer reporting 

12 agencies with respect to data security; 

13 (B) promulgate regulations, through notice 

14 and comment rulemaking that complies with 

15 section 553 of title 5, United States Code, for 

16 effective data security for covered consumer re17 porting agencies, including requirements for a 

18 covered consumer reporting agency to— 

19 (i) provide the Commission with de20 scriptions of technical and organizational 

21 security measures of the consumer report22 ing agency, including— 

23 (I) system and network security 

24 measures, including— 


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1 (aa) asset management, in2 cluding— 

3 (AA) an inventory of 

4 devices of the covered con5 sumer reporting agency that 

6 are authorized to access 

7 data maintained by the cov8 ered consumer reporting 

9 agency; 

10 (BB) an inventory of 

11 software that is authorized 

12 by the covered consumer re13 porting agency to access 

14 data maintained by the cov15 ered consumer reporting 

16 agency, including application 

17 whitelisting; and 

18 (CC) secure configura19 tions for hardware and soft20 ware of the covered con21 sumer reporting agency; 

22 (bb) network management 

23 and monitoring, including— 


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1 (AA) mapped data 

2 flows, including functional 

3 mission mapping; 

4 (BB) maintenance, 

5 monitoring, and analysis of 

6 audit logs; 

7 (CC) network seg8 mentation; and 

9 (DD) local and remote 

10 access privileges, defined 

11 and managed; and 

12 (cc) application manage13 ment, including— 

14 (AA) continuous vulner15 ability assessment and reme16 diation; 

17 (BB) server application 

18 hardening; 

19 (CC) vulnerability han20 dling, such as coordinated 

21 vulnerability disclosure pol22 icy; and 

23 (DD) patch manage24 ment, including at, or near, 

25 real-time dashboards of 


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1 patch implementation across 

2 network hosts; and 

3 (II) data security measures, in4 cluding— 

5 (aa) data-centric security 

6 mechanisms such as format-pre7 serving encryption, cryptographic 

8 data-splitting, and data-tagging 

9 and lineage; 

10 (bb) encryption for data at 

11 rest; 

12 (cc) encryption for data in 

13 transit; 

14 (dd) systemwide data mini15 mization evaluations and policies; 

16 and 

17 (ee) data recovery capability; 

18 (ii) employ reasonable technical meas19 ures and corporate governance processes 

20 for continuous monitoring of data, intru21 sion detection, and continuous evaluation 

22 and timely patching of vulnerabilities; 

23 (iii) employ reasonable technical meas24 ures and corporate governance processes 

25 that satisfy and exceed all relevant data seVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:47 May 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 \\ALPHA3\E\BILLS\H2545.IH H2545

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1 curity policy recommendations contained in 

2 the framework of the National Institute of 

3 Standards and Technology entitled 

4 ‘‘Framework for Improving Critical Infra5 structure Cybersecurity’’, dated February 

6 12, 2014, or any successor thereto, as de7 termined appropriate by the Office; and 

8 (iv) create and maintain documenta9 tion demonstrating that the covered con10 sumer reporting agency is employing the 

11 technical measures and corporate govern12 ance processes described in clauses (ii) and 

13 (iii); 

14 (C) annually examine the data security 

15 measures of covered consumer reporting agen16 cies for compliance with the requirements de17 scribed in clauses (ii) and (iii) of subparagraph 

18 (B); 

19 (D) investigate any covered consumer re20 porting agency if the Office has reason to sus21 pect— 

22 (i) a covered breach has occurred and 

23 the covered consumer reporting agency was 

24 subject to the covered breach; or 


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1 (ii) the covered consumer reporting 

2 agency is not in compliance with the re3 quirements described in clauses (ii) and 

4 (iii) of subparagraph (B); 

5 (E) after consultation with members of the 

6 technical and academic communities, develop a 

7 rigorous, repeatable methodology— 

8 (i) for evaluating, testing, and meas9 uring effective data security practices of 

10 covered consumer reporting agencies; and 

11 (ii) that employs forms of static and 

12 dynamic software analysis and penetration 

13 testing; 

14 (F) submit to Congress an annual report 

15 on the findings of each investigation carried out 

16 under subparagraph (D) during the year cov17 ered by the report that includes a statement of 

18 how Congress could enhance the authorities of 

19 the Office in order to assist the Office in car20 rying out the duties of the Office under this 

21 Act; 

22 (G) determine whether covered consumer 

23 reporting agencies are complying with the re24 quirements described in clauses (ii) and (iii) of 

25 subparagraph (B); and 


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1 (H) coordinate with the National Institute 

2 of Standards and Technology and the National 

3 Cybersecurity and Communications Integration 

4 Center of the Department of Homeland Secu5 rity; and 

6 (2) may— 

7 (A) investigate any covered breach to de8 termine if the covered consumer reporting agen9 cy that was subject to the covered breach was 

10 in compliance with the requirements described 

11 in clauses (ii) and (iii) of paragraph (1)(B) as 

12 of the date on which the covered breach oc13 curred; and 

14 (B) if the Director has reason to believe 

15 that any covered consumer reporting agency is 

16 violating, or in the immediate future will vio17 late, a requirement described in clause (ii) or 

18 (iii) of paragraph (1), bring a suit in an appro19 priate district court of the United States to en20 join any such act or practice. 

21 (c) STAFF.— 

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall, without 

23 regard to the civil service laws and regulations, ap24 point such personnel, including computer security re25 searchers and practitioners with technical expertise 


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1 in computer science, engineering, and cybersecurity, 

2 as the Director determines are necessary to carry 

3 out the duties of the Office. 

4 (2) DETAILS.— 

5 (A) IN GENERAL.—An employee of the Na6 tional Institute of Standards and Technology, 

7 the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, 

8 or the National Cybersecurity and Communica9 tions Integration Center of the Department of 

10 Homeland Security may be detailed to the Of11 fice, without reimbursement. 

12 (B) CIVIL SERVICE STATUS AND PRIVI13 LEGE.—Detail under subparagraph (A) shall be 

14 without interruption or loss of the civil service 

15 status or privilege of the employee who is de16 tailed to the Office. 

17 SEC. 4. NOTIFICATION AND ENFORCEMENT. 

18 (a) NOTIFICATION.— 

19 (1) NOTIFICATION TO THE COMMISSION AND

20 RELEVANT FEDERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT AND IN21 TELLIGENCE AGENCIES.— 

22 (A) NOTIFICATION TO THE COMMISSION.— 

23 Except as provided in paragraph (3), not later 

24 than 10 days after the date on which a covered 

25 breach occurs, any covered consumer reporting 


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1 agency that was subject to the covered breach 

2 shall notify the Commission of the covered 

3 breach. 

4 (B) NOTIFICATION TO RELEVANT FED5 ERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE

6 AGENCIES.—Not later than 10 days after the 

7 date on which the Commission receives a notifi8 cation under subparagraph (A) that a covered 

9 breach has occurred, the Commission shall— 

10 (i) notify the relevant Federal law en11 forcement agencies and intelligence agen12 cies that the covered breach has occurred; 

13 and 

14 (ii) with respect to the covered breach, 

15 consult with the relevant Federal law en16 forcement agencies and intelligence agen17 cies, as appropriate. 

18 (2) NOTIFICATION TO AFFECTED CONSUMERS

19 AND THE PUBLIC.— 

20 (A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 

21 paragraph (3), on an expeditious and practical 

22 timeline, as determined appropriate by the 

23 Commission, a covered consumer reporting 

24 agency that is subject to a covered breach 

25 shall— 


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1 (i) submit to each affected consumer 

2 with respect to whom the covered con3 sumer reporting agency holds a piece of 

4 personally identifying information a notifi5 cation regarding the covered breach that 

6 complies with subparagraph (B); and 

7 (ii) publish on the internet website of 

8 the covered consumer reporting agency a 

9 notice that contains a statement of— 

10 (I) the information described in 

11 clauses (i) and (ii) of subparagraph 

12 (B) and subclauses (I) and (II) of 

13 clause (iii) of that subparagraph; and 

14 (II) the steps that the covered 

15 consumer reporting agency is taking 

16 to notify the affected consumers de17 scribed in clause (i) regarding the cov18 ered breach. 

19 (B) NOTIFICATION TO AFFECTED CON20 SUMERS.—In a notification to affected con21 sumers under subparagraph (A)(i), the covered 

22 consumer reporting agency submitting the noti23 fication shall include a statement of— 

24 (i) the fact that the covered breach 

25 occurred; 


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1 (ii) the approximate date on which the 

2 covered breach occurred; and 

3 (iii) with respect to the covered 

4 breach— 

5 (I) the number of affected con6 sumers; 

7 (II) the measures that the cov8 ered consumer reporting agency is 

9 taking to remedy the covered breach; 

10 and 

11 (III) the potential risks created 

12 by the covered breach, a list of which 

13 the covered consumer reporting agen14 cy shall develop in consultation with 

15 the Office. 

16 (3) DELAY OF NOTIFICATION AUTHORIZED FOR

17 LAW ENFORCEMENT OR NATIONAL SECURITY PUR18 POSES.— 

19 (A) NOTIFICATION BY LAW ENFORCEMENT

20 AGENCY OR INTELLIGENCE AGENCY.—If a Fed21 eral law enforcement agency or intelligence 

22 agency to which the Commission has provided 

23 notice under paragraph (1)(B)(i) determines 

24 that the notification required under paragraph 


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1 (2) may impede a criminal investigation or na2 tional security activity— 

3 (i) the Federal law enforcement agen4 cy or intelligence agency shall provide writ5 ten notice to the Commission and the cov6 ered consumer reporting agency that was 

7 subject to the covered breach that is the 

8 subject of the notification that states— 

9 (I) that the notification required 

10 under paragraph (2) shall be delayed 

11 for law enforcement or national secu12 rity purposes; and 

13 (II) the date on which the delay 

14 imposed under subclause (I) shall end; 

15 and 

16 (ii) subject to subparagraph (B), the 

17 covered consumer reporting agency that 

18 was subject to the covered breach shall 

19 delay notification under paragraph (2) 

20 until the date described in clause (i)(II) of 

21 this subparagraph. 

22 (B) EXTENDED DELAY OF NOTIFICA23 TION.—If the notification required under para24 graph (2) is delayed under subparagraph (A) of 

25 this paragraph, a covered consumer reporting 


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1 agency that is required to provide notice under 

2 paragraph (2) shall provide that notice on an 

3 expeditious and practical timeline, as deter4 mined appropriate by the Commission, after the 

5 date on which the law enforcement or national 

6 security delay under subparagraph (A) of this 

7 paragraph ends, unless a Federal law enforce8 ment or intelligence agency to which the Com9 mission has provided notice under paragraph 

10 (1)(B)(i) provides written notification to the 

11 Commission and the covered consumer report12 ing agency that states— 

13 (i) that further delay is necessary; 

14 and 

15 (ii) the date on which the further 

16 delay shall end. 

17 (C) LAW ENFORCEMENT IMMUNITY.—No 

18 nonconstitutional cause of action shall lie in any 

19 court against any agency for acts relating to 

20 the delay of notification under subparagraph 

21 (A), or the extended delay of notification under 

22 subparagraph (B), for law enforcement or na23 tional security purposes. 

24 (b) PENALTY.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—In the event of a covered 

2 breach, the Commission shall, not later than 30 days 

3 after the date on which the Commission receives no4 tification of the covered breach under subsection 

5 (a)(1)(A), commence a civil action to recover a civil 

6 penalty in an appropriate district court of the 

7 United States against the covered consumer report8 ing agency that was subject to the covered breach. 

9 (2) DETERMINING PENALTY AMOUNT.— 

10 (A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 

11 subparagraph (B), in determining the amount 

12 of a civil penalty under paragraph (1), the 

13 court shall impose a civil penalty on a covered 

14 consumer reporting agency of— 

15 (i) $100 for each consumer for whom 

16 the first and last name, or the first initial 

17 of the first name and last name, and 1 

18 other item of personally identifying infor19 mation were exposed to an unauthorized 

20 party; and 

21 (ii) in addition to the penalty imposed 

22 under clause (i), an additional $50 for 

23 each item of personally identifying infor24 mation of the consumer, other than an 


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1 item described in that clause, that was ex2 posed to an unauthorized party. 

3 (B) EXCEPTION.— 

4 (i) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided 

5 in clause (ii), in an action commenced 

6 under this subsection, a court may not im7 pose a civil penalty in an amount that is 

8 more than 50 percent of the gross revenue 

9 of the covered consumer reporting agency 

10 against which the action is brought for the 

11 fiscal year before the fiscal year in which 

12 the covered consumer reporting agency be13 came aware of the covered breach that is 

14 the subject of the action. 

15 (ii) PENALTY DOUBLED.—In an ac16 tion commenced under this subsection, the 

17 court shall impose a civil penalty on a cov18 ered consumer reporting agency in an 

19 amount that is 2 times the amount of the 

20 penalty described in subparagraph (A), but 

21 not greater than 75 percent of the gross 

22 revenue of the covered consumer reporting 

23 agency for the fiscal year before the fiscal 

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1 ing agency became aware of the covered 

2 breach that is subject to the action, if— 

3 (I) the covered consumer report4 ing agency fails to notify the Commis5 sion of the covered breach before the 

6 deadline established under subsection 

7 (a)(1)(A); or 

8 (II) the covered consumer report9 ing agency violates any requirement 

10 described in clause (ii) or (iii) of sec11 tion 3(b)(1)(B). 

12 (3) PROCEEDS OF THE PENALTIES.—Of the 

13 penalties imposed under this subsection— 

14 (A) 50 percent shall be used for cybersecu15 rity research and inspections by the Office; and 

16 (B) 50 percent shall be used by the Office 

17 to be divided fairly among consumers affected 

18 by the covered breach. 

19 (4) NO PREEMPTION.—Nothing in this sub20 section shall preclude an action by a consumer under 

21 State or other Federal law. 

22 (c) INJUNCTIVE RELIEF.—The Commission, acting 

23 through the Office, may bring suit in an appropriate dis24 trict court of the United States or in the United States 

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1 porting agency to implement or correct a particular secu2 rity measure in order to promote effective security in ac3 cordance with the requirements described in clauses (ii) 

4 and (iii) of section 3(b)(1)(B). 

5 SEC. 5. AMENDMENTS TO THE GRAMM-LEACH-BLILEY ACT. 

6 (a) ENFORCEMENT RELATING TO DISCLOSURE OF

7 NONPUBLIC PERSONAL INFORMATION.—Section 

8 505(a)(7) of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (15 U.S.C. 

9 6805(a)(7)) is amended by inserting ‘‘, including any con10 sumer reporting agency that compiles and maintains files 

11 on consumers on a nationwide basis (as defined in section 

12 603(p) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 

13 1681a(p)))’’ before the period at the end. 

14 (b) DEFINITIONS RELATING TO DISCLOSURE OF

15 NONPUBLIC PERSONAL INFORMATION.—Section 509(3) 

16 of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (15 U.S.C. 6809(3)) is 

17 amended by adding at the end the following: 

18 ‘‘(E) CONSUMER REPORTING AGENCIES

19 SPECIFICALLY INCLUDED.—The term ‘financial 

20 institution’ includes any consumer reporting 

21 agency that compiles and maintains files on 

22 consumers on a nationwide basis (as defined in 

23 section 603(p) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act 

24 (15 U.S.C. 1681a(p))).’’. 


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1 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

2 There are authorized to be appropriated 

3 $100,000,000 to carry out this Act, to remain available 

4 until expended. 

Æ 


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