Financial services trade associations say they support threecyber security bills passed by the House this week that would increase research and developmentand reinforce federal agency security.

However, NAFCU broke from the pack, urging House leaders to alsoaddress issues of concern to credit unions.

CUNA signed a letter in support of the bills passed Tuesday thatwas also signed by banking and payments trade associations.

“Our nation's cyber security requires the active participationof the government, business and every consumer. We believe thesebills encourage the participation of all, while providing the toolsto defend against cyber threats by funding research and developmentactivities,” the letter said.

NAFCU, however, did not sign the letter. Vice President ofLegislative Affairs Brad Thaler said NAFCU's exclusion from theletter does not mean the trade's position differs from others inthe industry; but rather that NAFCU wanted to emphasize theimportance of legislation that also addresses data security.

NAFCU's letter, penned by Thaler, noted that while credit unionshave been subjected to data security standards since the passage ofthe Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, retailers are not. As a result, Thaler said, credit unions areoften forced to charge off fraud-related losses, many of which stemfrom a negligent entity's failure to protect sensitiveinformation.

He urged House leaders to hold any entity that stores financialor personal data to minimum standards of protection.

NAFCU further recommended in the letter that the House consideradditional data security issues as it tackles the broad topic ofcyber security, including holding retailers and others financialliable for the cost of breaches and requiring merchants to displayconsumer disclosures regarding data security risk.

The bills will now advance to the Senate. One of the bills, TheCybersecurity Enhancement Act, will likely be vetoed by PresidentObama due to privacy issues. That bill, H.R. 756, is similar to2012's Cyberintelligence Sharing and Protection Act, which alsopassed the House but did not advance in the Senate, due to Obama'sveto threat.

The other two bills are H.R. 967, The Advancing America'sNetworking and Information Technology Research and Development Act,which concerns the National High-Performance Computing Program, andH.R. 1163, The Federal Information Security Amendments Act, whichwould require federal agencies to comply with National Institute ofStandards and Technology computer standards.