Will Data Breach Laws Soon Be Obsolete?

from the legislating-for-the-last-problem,-not-the-next-one dept

You've probably noticed that there were an awful lot of "data breach" stories that came out in the past year or so. That wasn't because those breaches were new, but because of legislation in places like California requiring companies to publicly admit when a data breach has happened. The impact is that many other states and the federal government have looked at data breach laws as well -- but some are now saying that such laws will quickly become obsolete. The argument is that new security techniques like two-factor authentication will make it so your personal info just won't matter enough any more. You'll be able to publicly display everything about yourself and your bank accounts and it wouldn't be enough for anyone to get into your account (in theory...). Of course, there are some who also question two-factor authentication as a solution as well, noting that it only protects some kinds of attacks. Also, while it's true that most of these data breaches don't lead to identity theft, that's small comfort for those who do become identity theft victims. While it's great to think that maybe we'll reach a point where data loss isn't a risk... we're still not there yet and these data breach disclosure laws have at least helped to shine a light on the problem.

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