Credit unions are painfully aware of the ways lax data security practices harm individuals' financial security. From fraudulent charges to stolen identities, skimmed cards to ruined credit, the credit union has long been there to pick up the pieces when a member falls victim to bad actors exploiting vulnerabilities in the payments chain, shouldering the cost to get folks back on their feet.

The rate and severity of these breaches – and their associated costs – seems to climb every year. Since 2005, over 1.5 billion records have been exposed through nearly 10,000 data breaches! While leaders in Congress are busy discussing ways to keep our data out of the hands of Big Tech, they ignore the all too real threat posed by everyday bad actors illegally obtaining and misusing data for profit and exploitation.

It's time for Congress to realize that we can't have data privacy without data security.