Schumer: Feds must crack down on cyberattacks

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In the wake of hacks at major companies like American Airlines and DoorDash, the federal government needs to step up cybersecurity for consumers, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, R-N.Y., said.

Noting that Uber and U-Haul have also been targeted in the past 30 days, the senator urged the Federal Trade Commission to pressure businesses to protect consumer data.

He also said the Justice Department should step up its investigation and prosecution of hackers.

“Over the past 30 days or so, vital and personal information has been compromised at many major US companies, putting people’s privacy at risk. Yet if you ask most people about these hacks, they don’t even know they happened, and the feds are saying very little,” Schumer said in a statement.

“In fact, for many consumers, if you don’t have the service — which often has costs — you’re not aware of these breaches and hacks. And in some cases, even if you have a service that alerts you, information about where your personal information went, the origin of the hack, and more remains elusive.”

American Airlines confirmed the data breach on September 20, saying an “unauthorized entity” gained access to some customer and employee information, Reuters reported.

A few days earlier, U-Haul had discovered a breach of its customers’ data.

On September 15, Uber revealed that it too had been hacked, forcing the ride-hailing company to take some of its systems offline.

And DoorDash confirmed the data breach on August 25th.

Schumer called on the federal government to shed more light on the problem, noting that the FBI “has visibility into a quarter of cyber incidents.”

“The feds have a law on the books to collect more information about major hacks, so today’s message is: give consumers the details and find out who’s hacking,” Schumer said. “If a company doesn’t do the right thing with their customers’ very personal information, hold them accountable too. Today, it’s a two-way message.”

Suffolk County in New York was also hit by a cyberattack last month, knocking out state servers for more than 20 days.