The Federal Trade Commission urges companies to address the cyber vulnerabilities associated with the Log4j logging utility software, which records activities in consumer-facing systems.
FTC said Tuesday that Log4j vulnerabilities, when exploited, can risk breaching financial assets and personal information.
Laws like the Federal Trade Commission Act impose efforts to address software vulnerabilities. The commission cited as an example that Equifax had to pay $700 million for settlements as a result of exposing the personal information of 147 million individuals.
FTC noted that it will fully use its legal authority to deal with companies that have not made efforts to secure consumer data from threats exploiting Log4j vulnerabilities and similar issues.
The commission also advises companies to update their Log4j software package and consult with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s guidance on the vulnerability.