Data breaches

A man entered a SunTrust branch in Sebring, Fla., and shot and killed five women, four of whom were bank employees; 24 million mortgage documents exposed in data security lapse; the battle for deposits is like 'a steel-cage' match; and more from this week's most-read stories.

Widespread hacks often make front-page news, while measuring the actual harms to customers when personal financial information is stolen gets little attention.

Republicans on the House Oversight Committee concluded that last year’s massive data breach at Equifax was fully preventable, but stopped short of recommending new laws aimed at averting future hacks. Democrats called the final report a “missed opportunity.”

The comments by Brent McIntosh, Treasury's general counsel, are at odds with concerns by state regulators and consumer groups who fear that a national standard on how firms handle data breaches could weaken pre-existing rules.

The breach may have occurred through a technique called "credential stuffing," in which hackers who have stolen passwords for other websites try them out on an online banking site.