FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz told a data security workshop on Monday that the United States and other countries must “move beyond the ‘we agree to disagree’ approach” to securing consumers’ sensitive information in the global marketplace. Such harmony among nations, which have varying privacy rules and regulations, is “not beyond our reach,” Leibowitz said, pointing to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s 1980 privacy guidelines and a set of security guidelines adopted by the group in 2002. “Without adequate data security there really is no privacy,” he said.

Corporations must protect their back doors from hackers, malware, spyware and other high-tech intrusion mechanisms and protect their front door by properly storing and disposing of consumers’ data, Leibowitz said, noting that the FTC is “not shy about knocking on anyone’s door.” Since 1999, the agency has brought a number of cases alleging that companies failed to protect data, including a settlement this month with a consumer reporting agency that failed to properly screen prospective customers and, as a result, sold at least 318 credit reports to identity thieves.

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