Banks won’t be able to remain on sidelines of privacy debate

WASHINGTON — September 2017 was the beginning of the end.

That’s when Equifax disclosed publicly, for the first time, that nearly 150 million people had their personal information — including names, addresses and Social Security numbers— stolen from its database.

Major data breaches at retailers such as Target and Home Depot had gotten a lot of attention from the media and consumers. But the hack at the credit bureau would touch the financial services industry in a way that earlier incidents did not. It also would help spur a broader national conversation around privacy that continues to gain momentum, both at the state level and on Capitol Hill.