The Security Summit, consisting of the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”), state tax agencies, and private-sector tax industry officials, is encouraging tax professionals during the 2019 summer season to take some time to...more
8/27/2019
/ Cyber Crimes ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Data Security ,
Data Theft ,
Hackers ,
Identity Theft ,
IRS ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Popular ,
State Taxes ,
Tax Returns
Another day, and another form of hacking comes to light. On June 26, 2018, the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT), an agency within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, issued a security tip...more
6/27/2018
/ Bitcoin Mining ,
Blacklist ,
Computer Servers ,
Computer Virus Protection ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Mining ,
Data Protection ,
Data Security ,
Digital Currency ,
Hackers ,
Internet of Things ,
Malware ,
Mobile Devices ,
Operating System Developers ,
Passwords ,
Popular ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Software Developers ,
US-CERT ,
User Names ,
Websites
Data breaches are fast becoming a fact of life. Experiencing a data breach is never a pleasant experience, regardless of how it happens – by accident, by criminal intent, or by system failure. Someone steals a company...more
In a keynote address delivered on September 27, 2016 at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s fifth annual Cybersecurity Summit in Washington, DC, Commerce Department Secretary Penny Pritzker conceded that “the federal government...more
On September 15, 2016, the House of Representatives’ Intelligence Committee released its summary findings of a two-year investigation concerning the unauthorized disclosures made by former National Security Agency (NSA)...more
The lengthy saga between the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and LabMD, Inc. reached another turning point on July 28, 2016. The FTC issued its unanimous Opinion in which it found that LabMD’s data security practices were...more
8/13/2016
/ Actual Injuries ,
Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Data Breach ,
Data Security ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FTC Act ,
LabMD ,
Section 5 ,
Standard of Review ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices
On August 4, 2016, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Civil Rights (OCR) announced a record-setting settlement with Advocate Health Care Network (Advocate) for multiple potential violations of HIPAA...more
8/8/2016
/ Business Associates ,
Corrective Actions ,
Data Breach ,
Data Security ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Encryption ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Healthcare ,
HIPAA Audits ,
HIPAA Breach ,
OCR ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
PHI
On July 11, 2016, the Office of Civil Rights (“OCR”) at the Department of Health and Human Services issued new HIPAA guidance regarding the growing epidemic of malicious computer software known as “ransomware”....more
Utah, like most U.S. states, has enacted laws concerning data security and steps to take when a data breach occurs. Here is what Utah law provides as codified in Utah Code Ann §§ 13–44–101 et seq. The law has been in effect...more
I. Executive Summary -
The Treasury Department and the IRS are sensitive to the data security problems facing organizations, their employees and their customers and, as a result, have provided some welcomed...more
Earlier this month, the California Attorney General’s Office released the 2016 Data Breach Report covering years 2012 through 2015 for the State of California (the “AG’s Report”). The AG’s Report reveals that 557 data...more
In a highly-anticipated decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has ruled in FTC v. Wyndham Worldwide Corporation that the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) is authorized to pursue lawsuits against those who...more
8/27/2015
/ Administrative Authority ,
Consumer Information ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Security ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FTC v Wyndham ,
Privacy Policy ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices ,
Wyndham
On July 20, 2015, a federal appeals court in Chicago issued what could be a watershed ruling in favor of consumers pursuing class action lawsuits against retailers and other companies following data breaches that involve the...more
7/23/2015
/ Appeals ,
Clapper v. Amnesty International ,
Class Action ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Data Breach ,
Debit and Credit Card Transactions ,
Imminent Harm ,
Injury-in-Fact ,
Neiman Marcus ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Popular ,
Retailers ,
Reversal
Like other federal agencies exercising regulatory power in the data privacy and security arena, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) is cracking down on firms that fail to meet required data security...more
In May 2015, the Ponemon Institute released its tenth annual Cost of Data Breach Study, sponsored by IBM. The study sets forth the average calculated cost for each lost or stolen record containing “sensitive and confidential...more
A privacy policy is a key legal document in this new era of Big/Data/Breaches. When distilled to its essence, a privacy policy is simply “say what you do, and do what you say” with others’ personal information. A growing...more
For many companies, the prospect of a dreadful, costly and reputation-damaging cyber-attack and data breach is all the motivation they need to assess and improve their cyber security and data protection posture RIGHT NOW. ...more
High-profile data breaches and cyber-attacks on well-known brands and businesses have dominated the news cycle for more than a year. Yet during the same time, less visible, but no less important efforts have been made to...more
What's the one thing every company's data security program must include? That's the question we put recently to experts in the field, knowing that, especially after Heartbleed, the diversity of responses would create an...more
The challenges confronting corporate counsel regarding privacy, data protection and cyber security have never been more daunting: dealing with the threat of increasingly sophisticated cybercriminals, responding to data breach...more