According to a Bank Info Security article, House hearings may start later this year or in early 2010 to address the increasing problem of data breaches. According to the Identity Theft Resource Center report, 407 breaches and nearly 220.6 million records have been exposed so far in 2009.

The current environment seems to be more government regulation on things than less. The purpose of hearings is to discuss the way data is retrieved, transmitted, intercepted and stored and to see how government can regulate aspects of IT -- including companies involved in finance, health, welfare and safety.

However, before the federal government tries to regulate how the private sector handles and stores data, Congress should consider updating the 7-year-old Federal Information Security Management Act that regulates how the federal government secures its data and systems.