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In recent remarks delivered on the Senate floor, Senator Angus King (I) called on Congress to take action to immediately begin working on and pass meaningful cyber-security legislation. As part of his speech, Senator King noted the losses to Maine's credit unions as a result of cyber-intrusions and data breaches. "According to the Maine Credit Union League, over the past year data breaches in Maine have cost credit unions around $2 million to replace debit and credit cards, and an additional $500,000 for covering fraud," Senator King stated.
Your League's President John Murphy said, "Through our regular communications and recent meetings with Senator King and his staff, we have relayed the impact that data breaches have on Maine credit unions and our members, especially the high number that have occurred in the past year. We appreciate his concern and his desire to get legislation passed that will provide relief to credit unions and other financial institutions to a problem that continues to get worse."
In his remarks, Senator King, who has repeatedly expressed his concern about the national security and economic dangers of inaction on the issue, again warned of the threat posed to the United States by cyber-criminals and foreign governments. He noted that recent cyber-attacks, including the attacks on Sony Pictures and JPMorgan Chase, should serve as a wake-up call to inspire cooperation and quick action in Congress.
"This is a threat we know about. It's important. It's serious. We know at least some of the important things that we have to do to coordinate better between the government and the private sector. We know how we can help to solve this. We just have to summon the political will to do it....If we don't do that in the face of this threat, shame on us," Senator King said. "I deeply hope that the next several weeks and months will be time of productive discussion and a commitment to the beginning of a solution to this grave threat facing the United States of America."
In addition to the myriad national security and infrastructural risks posed by cyber-attacks, American businesses and consumers face daily threats to our economic security. A study conducted by McAfee and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) estimates that the annual cost to the global economy from cyber-crime is more than $445 billion, and that economic losses from cyber-crime could translate into more than 200,000 jobs lost in the U.S. alone.
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