Twenty-two financial and technology industry associations said they would support federal legislation to require companies to notify customers about data breaches, if the proposed law first meets certain conditions.

Several large businesses have been hit by data breaches in recent years that exposed confidential customer information to outsiders. One of the largest was a data breach that hit the credit reporting agency Equifax, which affected some 143 million Americans.

In many cases the companies breached waited weeks or even months before alerting customers that their data had been accessed, prompting calls for a federal law requiring businesses to disclose breaches in a timely manner. Forty-eight states and the District of Columbia have data breach notification laws but they vary greatly in terms of scope, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

The 22 associations called for a single national standard in a Jan. 4 letter to the heads of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the Digital Commerce and Consumer Protection subcommittee. However, they said any standard should take into account the size and complexity of the organization, the cost of available tools to secure the data, and sensitivity of the information an organization holds. They also want assurances that small organizations "are not burdened by excessive requirements."

"For the first time in over a decade, the banking, payment, retail, telecommunication and technology industries have come together to call on Congress to enact national data security legislation," said Jason Kratovil, vice president of government affairs for payments at Financial Services Roundtable. "Congress should harness this momentum and quickly deliver a bill to the president's desk."

In addition to FSR, other signatories include ACT-The App Association, Consumer Bankers Association, Independent Community Bankers of America, Property Casualty Insurers Association of America and TechNet. http://bit.ly/2m2qUch

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