The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, one of the watchdogs of the financial services industry, has announced through Acting Director Mick Mulvaney, that it will no longer collect personal information of consumers due to cybersecurity concerns and in an effort to improve the CFPB’s cybersecurity program.

According to Mulvaney, the Inspector General’s report this year about the agency’s data security methods “scares me to death.” Therefore, he has halted the collection of personal information of consumers until the CFPB’s data security program is bolstered. He added that the agency’s previous leadership was also taking the report seriously.

This move should be comforting to consumers. More agencies and companies should evaluate whether they should halt collection of consumers’ personal information until their data security efforts are appropriate for the collection, maintenance, use and storage of personal information. If more entities did this, we wouldn’t need Have I Been Pwned?

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