Thursday, September 22, 2005

Credit companies to adopt one data protection standard

James B. Kelleher writes for Reuters:

The top three U.S. credit reporting companies said on Thursday that they would adopt a single, shared encryption standard to better protect the huge amounts of sensitive electronic data they receive every day from banks, retailers and credit-card companies.

Equifax Inc., GUS Plc. subsidiary Experian and privately held TransUnion LLC, which maintain huge databases on hundreds of millions of Americans, said the joint effort would involve the development and adoption of a data-cloaking code built on encrypted algorithm and 128-bit, secret-key technologies.

In a statement, the companies insisted they have "long employed information security tools and programs" to ensure the information they compile from third parties isn't intercepted by thieves.

But they said that by creating and adhering to a single, beefed-up industry standard, they would "further assure the protection of sensitive consumer data when transmitted between data furnishers and credit reporting companies."

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