Cyberside Chats: Everyone wants to be Batman. Hacking Back & Cybersecurity Law
Looking back at 2021 and ahead to 2022
Monthly Minute | Protecting Against Data Scrapers
Death of Activist Aaron Swartz Could Spur Changes to Computer Fraud & Abuse Act
Employer’s Takeover of Former CEO’s LinkedIn Account Lawful Under CFAA
Russian intelligence agencies have hacked dozens of civilian organizations in the U.S. and other Ukraine-allied nations since February. While this activity has garnered a great deal of attention due to the conflict in...more
On May 19, 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) revised its policy regarding charging decisions under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). The new policy makes clear, "for the first time," that the DOJ "should...more
Connecticut Passes the Fifth US State Consumer Privacy Law - The Connecticut governor has formally signed and passed An Act Concerning Personal Data Privacy and Online Monitoring (CPDA), making this law the fifth US state...more
Professor, Attorney and Expert in Cybersecurity Policy & Governance, Kevin Powers joins Jerich Beason & Whitney McCollum to discuss where the law stands on “Hacking Back”. Everyone at some point wants to be Batman. During...more
The U.S. Department of State has announced a $10 million reward for “information leading to the identification or location of any person who, while acting at the direction or under the control of a foreign government,...more
The past year’s trends in privacy and cybersecurity are set to intensify in 2022, with heightened threats, increased regulations, and elevated expectations - as well as new opportunities. To navigate the year ahead, we lay...more
CYBERSECURITY - Another Win for Justice Department: Slilpp Marketplace Takedown - People always ask me if law enforcement is having any luck in combatting cyber criminals. Let me be clear: it is a very tough job to take...more
Amidst the ever-worsening onslaught of cyberattacks, companies are longing to go on the offensive, whether by “hacking-back” or by going after malicious actors in United States courts. While Congress has previously refused to...more
Ransomware attackers typically encrypt victims’ data and demand ransom in exchange for the decryption keys. Ransomware is not a new cybercriminal activity. In fact, ransomware attacks are over 30 years old. However, around...more
The Ethereum Classic blockchain was the victim of a 51% attack (often called a majority or Sybil attack) on January 5, 2019 that reorganized portions of the blockchain and allowed the attackers to double-spend 219,500 ETC...more
A recent dispute between an advertiser AXTS Inc. (“AXTS”) and a video production company GY6vids (“GY6”) produced an interesting issue involving the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) – that is, whether an entity...more
We have previously reported on the ongoing cybersecurity issues with St. Jude defibrillators [view related posts here, here, and here]. On June 29, 2018, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) classified the required firmware...more
In a recent decision, the federal Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (which covers New York, Connecticut, and Vermont) affirmed the conviction of an Italian citizen for misdemeanor computer intrusion in violation of the...more
With new developments regarding Uber Technologies Inc.’s 2016 data breach coming out almost daily, lawsuits against the company continue to pile-up. We previously reported that within days of Uber disclosing the data theft...more
UNITED STATES - Regulatory—Policy, Best Practices, and Standards - FTC Comments on Improvements to IoT Device Security - On June 19, the Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") submitted comments to a working group organized by the...more
The Active Cyber Defense Certainty Act is a new bill that is gaining positive bipartisan support and significant interest from business communities, lawmakers and academics. The proposed bill amends the Computer Fraud and...more
(First in a continuing series.) Active Cyber Defense, or ACD, is a broad category encompassing different kinds of actions that organizations can take to defend against breaches and cyberattacks. The operative word is...more
Editor’s Note: This is the first of an end-of-year series of posts examining coming trends in cybersecurity. Posts will examine trends in state regulations, federal regulatory authority, the changing nature of the threat...more
In the fast-developing world of cyber threats and corresponding cyber coverage, at least two insurance carriers are pushing back against covering losses arising out the transfer of funds to cyber fraudsters after employees...more
We’ve all heard of the FBI’s “Most Wanted” list, but fewer people know that the FBI has a special most wanted list just for computer criminals. The FBI’s “Cyber’s Most Wanted” list features the FBI’s most wanted computer...more
Sergey Vovnenko, a Ukrainian hacker, was charged in New Jersey federal court this week for wire fraud conspiracy, unauthorized computer access and aggravated identity theft for allegedly hacking into networks of financial...more
Anonymous users of the almost 40 million users of the Ashley Madison website have filed suit against internet service providers (ISPs) GoDaddy and Amazon alleging that they have been damaged because the ISPs hosted the stolen...more
As we approach the dog days of summer, baseball season is again in full bloom. We previously discussed old-fashioned sign stealing in the context of teams trying to gain a competitive advantage during an actual game. But it...more
On May 14, Florida Governor Rick Scott signed the Computer Abuse and Data Recovery Act (CADRA) into law. CADRA is intended to provide a remedy to businesses for harm or loss caused by unauthorized access to protected...more
While the recent hack of Sony was prominent news because of the celebrity ties and potential geo-political implications, other prominent cyber-attacks over the last few months are enough to give any company pause. The January...more