After the massive hack of the Equifax platform and the compromise of the personal data of more than 143 mln Americans was announced last week, lawmakers are seeking ways to protect consumers.
US Senator Elizabeth Warren announced the proposal of a bill which would allow consumers to freeze their credit for free – a service that is traditionally chargeable. The bill has already received the support of 11 other senators.
The credit reporting agency, which made in excess of $3 bln last year, has been called into question over vastly subpar information protection for consumers. As Cointelegraph reported, Hold Security was able to hack into the personal files of employees with admin/admin as the username and password.
Blockchain for data protection
The widespread outrage at the massive hack has also produced a renewed call for new and better ways to protect data for consumers. Blockchain technology has already been proven to protect information and provide far superior security to most systems.
The distributed ledger of Blockchain technology makes accessing information without the appropriate key impossible and would have protected the data of consumers. In an ironic turn of events, the hackers demanded ransom in Bitcoin, knowing that it is anonymous.