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The “epidemic” of online security breaches is “only getting worse,” New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said Thursday.

Speaking during a press conference in Rochester, Schneiderman announced the release of the latest report on cybersecurity in New York. Last year saw a record number of data breaches, exposing the personal information of 9.2 million New Yorkers, quadruple the number affected in 2016, he said.

“The problem is only getting worse,” Schneiderman said. “We're approaching the point where the epidemic of identity theft and the dangers of hacking are so substantial, we just have to take action.”

Schneiderman said that action comes in the form of the Stop Hacks and Improve Electronic Data Security, or SHIELD, Act—legislation he proposed last year. The AG called New York's data securities laws “out-of-date and toothless,” urging the state Legislature to take action. New York's laws lagged behind other states that have more robust and reality-based laws, Schneiderman said.

Data security breaches were not confined to New York's borders, Schneiderman noted. In fact, it was the national Equifax Inc. breach that accounted for 90 percent of the personal data exposed last year, according to the AG. Schneiderman and other state officials have opened investigations into the breach.

Equifax wasn't alone in being investigated over data issues. Schneiderman also offered a brief update on his office's investigation, alongside Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, into reports the political consultancy firm Cambridge Analytica improperly gained access to tens of millions of Facebook users' private information ahead of its work on behalf of then-candidate Donald Trump's presidential campaign in 2016.

Schneiderman said his office has been in touch with Facebook, and that the company has been cooperative. It has already replied to requests for documents and information about company policies.

“We're digging in on this,” Schneiderman said.

Part of the need for New York to step up on such measures was because of the federal government's retreat from aggressively investigating big companies, according to Schneiderman.

The AG went on to call the federal government now under the control of the Trump administration “a toxic volcano of ideas.”