Credit-reporting agencies operating in New York must register with the state Department of Financial Services by Sept. 15 under a final regulation passed in June to protect state residents' private data from breaches such as the massive Equifax data breach that exposed information on millions of Americans last year.

DFS launched an online registration form last month for credit-reporting agencies to comply with the new rules issued after public hearings last year, Superintendent Maria Vullo announced recently. The regulations were passed in June in response to the Equifax data breach disclosed a year ago Friday, which exposed the Social Security numbers and other private information of nearly 148 million Americans, including more than 8 million New Yorkers, according to updated figures.

“In the face of lax federal government oversight, New York has led the nation in protecting consumers and safeguarding the financial services industry from the threat of data breaches and other cyber-attacks,” Superintendent Vullo said in a statement. “This online registration process is an important step as DFS continues to take steps to promote strong, modern state regulation and to ensure that the sensitive data of consumers remains safe.”