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A bipartisan group of lawmakers offered a bill Thursday to improve diplomacy on cyber issues, including by saving the State Department's beleaguered Office of the Coordinator for Cyber Issues.

The office, often abbreviated S/CCI, is on the chopping block in Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's plans to contract and consolidate the State Department's offices.

The Federal Trade Commission said Thursday that it is investigating the massive data breach at credit reporting agency Equifax, adding the top U.S. consumer watchdog to the chorus of federal lawmakers and regulators expressing alarm over the unauthorized access of data belonging to 143 million people.

It is being called the most devastating consumer information breach in history. The more than 143 million consumer credit records hacked from Atlanta-based Equifax this earlier this spring saw all sorts of personal data stolen including Social Security numbers, credit cards numbers, birth dates, home addresses, drivers' license information. and "dispute documents" from consumers contesting alleged credit violations. The magnitude of the breach is staggering when you consider nearly half of the nation's population and almost 100 percent its workforce has been affected.

Don't expect the furor to die down soon regarding the massive data breach that hit consumer credit rating firm Equifax and potentially exposed the personal information of 143 million customers.