A new law in Nevada forces businesses to encrypt customer data that could result in identity theft. Big national companies and small business owners, like hairdressers and deli operators, can no longer send and receive personal or financial information via email or Internet without encrypting or password protecting the data.
The law makes the business owners legally liable if unprotected electronic data results in identity theft or data breaches. Unlimited civil penalties will be applicable for non-compliance that results in a security breach. If the information has been protected in compliance with the new law, damages will be capped at $1,000. That amount might not sound like much, but it will be applied to each customer, and for each occurrence.
Nevada now joins Massachusetts and a handful of other states that have implemented, or are considering implementation of similar laws intended to protect consumers from identity theft. The Massachusetts legislation applies not just to business based in Massachusetts, but also to any companies with customers or operations in the state.
Government and private industry data breaches have resulted in the loss or exposure of more than 250 million records in personal or financial records since January 2005. The largest data breach to date involved TJX – parent company of TJ Maxx, Marshalls and other stores – and involved the theft of at least 90 million credit card charges.
LifeLock provides identity theft protection and prevention services to almost 1.5 million customers in the United States of America. Visit their website at LifeLock.com to learn more about their award-winning protection services. Enroll using the Life Lock discount code Defense and receive the lowest available price and 30 days of free protection.
About time they did something like this to protect people. I live in Indiana and I hope they’ll get around to passing the same protection for my state (after all this Governor mess).
Thank you for your help!