The Senate

Four senior senators today introduced legislation that would, for the first time, provide a federal standard for companies to safeguard consumers' personal information throughout their systems and to quickly notify consumers if those systems are breached. The Data Security and Breach Notification Act was introduced by Senators Dianne Feinstein, chairman of the Intelligence Committee; John Rockefeller, chairman of the

Losing the cat-and-mouse game with hackers, retailers are facing increased regulations and potentially significant costs in the name of protecting customers’ personal data. In a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Target and Neiman Marcus executives said even their strongest measures weren't enough to prevent the data breaches that took place during the holiday season. Target CFO Jon Mulligan told the committee that the breach at his company continued for three days after the retailer thought the malware had been handled, The Wall Street Journal reported. It seems this is a watershed moment for security in the retail industry.