Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker has signed into law legislation requiring that consumers victimized by a data breach receive free security freezes and credit monitoring.
The law is broken into two parts. The first impacts credit reporting agencies, which will be required to provide a security freeze free of charge when requested by a consumer. Also, third parties must obtain written consent before obtaining a consumer’s credit reports for non-credit purposes, MassLive reported.
The second part requires companies that suffer a data breach supply consumers with up to 18 months of free credit monitoring.
“The improvements made to Massachusetts laws in this legislation are necessary to protect consumers from the consequences of data breaches that could expose personal information and to give consumers more control over their data and how it is used,” Baker tweeted.
