Yellen on Equifax: ‘We Would Really, Um, Urge Consumers Now To Be Very Careful’

YELLEN: “You asked about Equifax and, you know, of course, that is a very serious data breach. We would really, um, urge consumers now to be very careful in monitoring their credit reports and financial situation and through our supervision, we’re working with the banks that we supervise to make sure that they take appropriate actions with respect to their business processes in light of the fact that there could be breaches or fraudulent transactions or information that they receive that they might use, for example, in credit determinations, could be contaminated by bad data. And more generally, I mean, it points to the importance of strong cyber-security controls and attention to cyber-security risks which we do see as one of the most significant risks to the financial sector and we’re very focused in our banking supervision and making sure that banks have appropriate controls in place and the Equifax breach, I think, highlights the importance of that.”