The cancellation of nearly three-dozen cybersecurity contracts at the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau endangers the security of sensitive data maintained by the federal watchdog, a former senior official at the bureau said in court documents filed Friday.
Former CFPB chief technologist Erie Meyer said that a rush to terminate contracts raises serious concerns about data preservation and the bureau’s overall ability to function. The cancellations came as part of a Trump administration effort to disable the CFPB by suspending its oversight, closing its Washington headquarters, and firing its director as well as many other employees.
The 32 cybersecurity contracts that were scrapped cover a range of services, including vulnerability scanning and penetration testing, security audit and log analysis, virtual private network deployment and management of IT networks, systems and applications, Meyer said in the filing.
“That data is crucial to everything from identifying and assisting victims of consumer fraud and providing them with court-ordered relief, to tracking the financial information that is critical to the Bureau’s role in helping to stabilize financial markets, to responding to consumer companies,” Meyer said.
Spokespeople for the CFPB and the White House didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
The CFPB was created in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis to protect consumers and since then, has been repeatedly accused of overstepping its authority. President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the agency — former Republican board member of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Jonathan McKernan — told the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday that he’s committed to right-sizing the bureau.
Elon Musk’s government efficiency team posted online some of the canceled contracts on February 14, a day before a court order was issued to preserve and not impair any data held by the Bureau. The cancellation of the contracts “raises serious questions about whether the Bureau is taking the steps necessary to ensure compliance with the order,” Meyer said in her filing.
Meyer’s declaration was filed alongside a lawsuit by the National Treasury Employees Union regarding the firing of employees by acting director Russell Vought. He stopped nearly all CFPB work when he took over on Feb. 7, and the bureau on Thursday dropped several Biden-era lawsuits against major lenders.
A hearing in the union’s case is scheduled for March 3.
Photo: The US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau headquarters in Washington, DC. Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg
Topics Cyber
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