U.S. law requires major phone companies to wait seven days before letting users know about a data breach.

It's a rule that FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel is hoping to change.

In January, she sent out a proposal that would eliminate "the current seven business day mandatory waiting period for notifying customers of a breach," along with several other changes designed to help people protect their data.

"The idea that I could have my phone hijacked by somebody else, and used in a way that appears to be me, puts a lot of other systems at risk," said Karen Worstell, a senior cybersecurity strategist at VMware, a company which provides multi-cloud services for all apps.

"That's the reason why the FCC is looking at notifying customers early. Customers have to make a choice about what they're going to do about their phone security."

It's an idea echoed by Rosenworcel.

"[T]hese rules need updating to fully reflect the evolving nature of data breaches and the real-time threat they pose to affected to consumers," Rosenworcel said in a written statement about the proposal.

"Customers deserve to be protected against the increase in frequency, sophistication and scale of these data leaks."

Not everyone agrees.

There are currently only four people serving on the five-person Federal Communications Commission, and they are split along party lines: two Democrats and two Republicans.

President Joe Biden's nominee to join the FCC, Gigi Sohn, has been stalled in the Senate for several months.

The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation is scheduled to vote on her nomination Wednesday.

If approved, she would still have to pass a vote of the full Senate.

FCC action can't come soon enough to save most Americans from having their personal information exposed.

By one estimate, every person in the U.S. had their data stolen four times during 2019.

Breaches have become more common since then.

"We do seem to still have an under-reporting of breaches," Worstell said.

"I'm not exactly sure why. But the understanding is that there are breaches occurring that are not currently being reported. There's a few ways that companies can avoid doing a reporting of a breach. And so many of them may be taking advantage "

Worstell said it's important for all of us to keep an eye out for unfamiliar transactions on our bank or credit card accounts.

She recommended setting up alerts with your bank.

But the most important thing consumers can do, according to Worstell, is activating two-factor authentication on any apps containing personal data.

"Two-factor authentication just means that you have your name, your user id, your password, and another code, usually something that was sent to your phone," Worstell said.

"I would implement that everywhere. Everywhere. Passwords are absolutely worthless at this point in time. If you want to put in 17-character, complex passwords on all of your accounts, go ahead and do that. They're still breakable."

The Federal Communications Commission announced Friday it has approved funds to provide internet subsidies for low-income families through the establishment of the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program.

The FCC says the program will provide eligible households with discounts of up to $50 a month for broadband service, and up to $75 a month if the household is on Tribal lands. It also will provide a one-time discount of up to $100 on a computer or tablet for eligible households, the FCC added.

The FCC says that the program is open to Lifeline subscribers, including those that are on Medicaid or accept SNAP benefits; households with children receiving free or reduced-price lunch or school breakfast; Pell grant recipients; and those who have lost jobs and seen their income reduced in the last year.

The program is expected to cost $3.2 billion.

“This is a program that will help those at risk of digital disconnection. It will help those sitting in cars in parking lots just to catch a Wi-Fi signal to go online for work,” said acting FCC chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. “It will help those lingering outside the library with a laptop just to get a wireless signal for remote learning. It will help those who worry about choosing between paying a broadband bill and paying rent or buying groceries. In short, this program can make a meaningful difference in the lives of people across the country.”

The program is expected to begin within 60 days. The FCC has not launched a signup program yet, but when updated information will be available by clicking here.

Justin Boggs is a writer for the E.W. Scripps National Desk. Follow him on Twitter @jjboggs or on Facebook.

CNN —

Related video above: How cellphone scams can happen to you

The scourge of obnoxious robocalls has resumed after a brief dip during the early months of the pandemic.

But a new prevention program developed by the Federal Communications Commission — which officially went into effect this week — could begin to offer some relief later this year.

The program, called "Stir/Shaken," is a set of technical standards that mobile carriers are required to adopt to help prevent call "spoofing," a tactic used by robocallers to make an incoming call look like it's from your area code so you're more likely to pick up. Robocalls from spoofed numbers aren't just an annoyance, they're dangerous — capable of scamming people out of money or sensitive personal information such as Social Security numbers.

Under the Stir/Shaken protocol, carriers are required to certify, with varying confidence levels, that calls really are coming from the numbers displayed on caller ID. The deadline for most big carriers to implement the standards was Wednesday and the major carriers have all said they've signed on.

The idea is this: When your wireless carrier processes an inbound call that doesn't have a certification letting it know the number is legitimate, the carrier will be able to block it before your phone ever starts ringing.

"While there is no silver bullet in the endless fight against scammers, Stir/Shaken will turbo-charge many of the tools we use in our fight against robocalls," FCC acting chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement Wednesday.

But don't get too excited just yet. Experts say Stir/Shaken won't be an automatic fix to the millions of robocalls that are placed in the United States each month.

For one thing, carriers won't actually start blocking calls based on the Stir/Shaken verification information until Sept. 28. In the meantime, they'll gather information about which calls are and aren't certified in an effort to avoid blocking calls that someone actually wanted to receive, according to Ed Fox, chief technology officer at network services firm MetTel. For example, carriers want to avoid accidentally blocking an automated message from your hairstylist reminding you of an upcoming appointment.

Until then, consumers of some carriers may see an indicator that the number has been verified (or not) when receiving a call, so they can decide whether to pick up.

Carriers have "had to come up with a mitigation plan that hopefully prevents blocking legitimate calls," Fox said. "There will be a lot of challenges, but toward the end of October, we'll see significant drops in some of that robocalling."

While major carriers have implemented Stir/Shaken, the FCC granted carriers with 100,000 or fewer subscribers a two-year extension to adopt the standards, meaning bad actors could rely on those carriers to continue doing call spoofing in the meantime. Some small carriers have other robocall mitigation plans to prevent outgoing scam calls from their network, but they may not work as well as adopting the new standards, said Alex Quilici, CEO of YouMail, a company that tracks robocalls and offers a call blocking app for consumers.

Another potential challenge: Bad actors could simply purchase legitimate phone lines that will show up as "verified" by carriers and make robocalls from those. While this would require bad actors to take extra steps — and therefore will likely be used less often than existing "spoofing" methods — it could make for more dangerous robocalls, said Quilici.

For example, if someone receives a call that shows up as verified, and a scammer on the other end says they're a representative of a bank or big retailer, the recipient may be more likely to believe them and give up personal information.

"I think people are going to be really disappointed to find out that really what's happened here is a speed bump, not a wall" for bad actors, Quilici said.

CINCINNATI — The countdown to FC Cincinnati's first home match is on with less than two days to go. Support groups for the club are getting ready with signs and banners -- thousands are expected to bring their business to bars across downtown and Over-The-Rhine.

If you don’t have tickets for the season opener, The Pitch might just be the closest thing you can get to the new stadium.

Andrew Maloney, marketing director for The Pitch, said the new bar on Central Parkway positions you perfectly to experience the game.

"We've been here on the rooftop. You can hear it. You can feel it. The way the stadium is designed you feel like you're in the stadium," Maloney said.

WCPO Staff

The Pitch already had its own following before opening day.

"We wanted to be open for the home opener. Soccer fans are loyal. We're home to a supporter group at The Pitch -- Queen City Mafia,” Maloney said “So we wanted to be here ready for them as well so they can do the march to the stadium up the steps.”

The Pitch is not alone in the fandom.

The Pride, another FCC support group, will have their original sign from Nippert Stadium hanging at Northern Row Brewery -- the group's new home bar.

WCPO Staff

Keith Maloy, general manager for the brewery, said the hundreds of fans expected to show up couldn't have come at a better time.

"One thing that OTR has is a lot of Pride in the neighborhood, and the city itself. I think it's appropriate that The Pride, the club is going to be home here,” Maloy said. “We feel that way about the team. What it does for the city. It's a good focal thing right now. Something to latch on to. It's a positive thing right now. We need something positive."

Northern Row needed something to rally behind.

"They're passionate about the sport. Passionate about the team,” said David Berger, founder of Northern Row Brewery. “I think with us it sort of helped us get through the times when you're scratching your head wondering when this will be over? You have something to look forward to."

FC Cincinnati's third home game at TQL Stadium will be played with a full-capacity crowd on June 19.