Sacramento, California - The California Department of Food and Agriculture is celebrating its 100th anniversary as a state agency in 2019. Throughout the year this blog will feature a number of items to commemorate this milestone. Today we continue with the Centennial Reflections video series, featuring CDFA employees remembering their histories, and the agency’s.

Washington, DC - Equifax Inc. has agreed to pay at least $575 million, and potentially up to $700 million, as part of a global settlement with the Federal Trade Commission, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), and 50 U.S. states and territories, which alleged that the credit reporting company’s failure to take reasonable steps to secure its network led to a data breach in 2017 that affected approximately 147 million people.

Washington, DC - Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is announcing the launch of its first e-cigarette prevention TV ads educating kids about the dangers of e-cigarette use. The FDA also plans to provide new posters for high schools and educational materials for middle schools across the U.S. as part of “The Real Cost” Youth E-Cigarette Prevention Campaign.

Washington, DC - Secretary Michael R. Pompeo co-chaired the second Western Hemisphere Counterterrorism Ministerial from July 18-19 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.  The multilateral forum included 18 governments from the region and the Organization of American States’ Inter-American Committee against Terrorism, all committed to bolstering counterterrorism cooperation to deny terrorists and terrorist financiers safe haven in the region.  While in Buenos Aires, the Secretary commemorated the 25th anniversary of the Iran-backed Hizballah attack on the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, which killed 85 people and injured hundreds more.

Washington, DC - American small businesses received a near-$44 million boost from the Energy Department's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. As part of last Monday’s announcement, small businesses are receiving Phase II Release 2 grants that demonstrate commercial feasibility for innovations during the second phase of their research. Phase II awards range from $975,000 to $1,150,000, with a duration of two years.

Washington, DC - Patch your software. Segment your network. Monitor for intruders. According to tech experts, those are security basics for businesses of any size. But when you’re industry giant Equifax – a company in possession of staggering amounts of highly confidential information about more than 200 million Americans – it’s almost unthinkable not to implement those fundamental protections. An FTC, CFPB, and State AG settlement of at least $575 million illustrates the injury to consumers when companies ignore reasonably foreseeable (and preventable) threats to sensitive data. Read on for security tips for your business and what consumers can do to get compensation for their losses and sign up for free credit monitoring.