CFPB’s ‘Disturbing’ Data Breach Sparks Ire, Credibility Doubts

Nate Taylor spoke to Law360 about a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) data breach involving sensitive information on dozens of financial institutions and potentially hundreds of thousands of their customers after one of its examiners mishandled agency records by emailing them to a personal inbox.

“Everyone has data breaches,” Nate said. “That’s just the nature of the beast. But one of the inferences here is that [the CFPB’s] controls may not have been as robust as one would expect for handling such sensitive data.”

He added that if one examiner was able to slip past the CFPB’s data security safeguards, it begs the question of whether this kind of improper personal email use is a more widespread phenomenon within the agency’s ranks.

“Was this a solitary event, or could this be sort of the first peel of the onion?” Nate said. “There are more questions than answers right now.”

Read the full article.