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
On November 4, 2022, a California district court took up the parties cross-motions for summary judgment in the long-running scraping litigation involving social media site LinkedIn Corp.’s (“LinkedIn”) challenge to data...more
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
California federal Judge William Alsup dismissed various claims against Mint Mobile LLC based on a data breach that exposed personal information of Mint customers. Plaintiff Daniel Fraser alleged that Mint, a mobile virtual...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
When can a data breach get worse? When the process of notifying victims creates a second breach. Take the example of a cancer treatment center that recently paid $425,000 to settle allegations that included a faulty...more
Cybercrime has been on the rise in recent years. In response, the federal government has shown an increased interest in prosecuting cybercrime offenses. The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, codified at 18 U.S.C. Section 1030, is...more
In today’s digital age, employers store immense amounts of information, including confidential and proprietary information, on their on-premises systems, cloud-servers and other data storage solutions. With this collection of...more
The Georgia Supreme Court recently concluded that Georgia’s equivalent of the CFAA should be viewed narrowly, similar to the US Supreme Court’s recent, similar decision in Van Buren. In Kinslow v. State, the Georgia Supreme...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
In our March Insurance Update, we discuss four state supreme court cases and four cybercrime cases. The state high courts address: •From whose perspective should a consent-to-settle provision be judged? •What standard...more
UNITED STATES - Regulatory—Policy, Best Practices, and Standards - Cybersecurity Standards Issued for Government Contractors - On January 31, the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and...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
On August 28, 2019, almost a month after Paige A. Thompson was arrested based on allegations that she hacked into servers rented by Capital One Financial Corporation, a criminal indictment was returned charging her with one...more
As we face mounting data breaches and fears over loss of privacy, the article notes that, “as the public opinion evolves and increasingly concludes that merely possessing private data puts consumers at risk, consumers may...more
Delta Air Lines scored a victory when a California federal court granted the company’s motion to dismiss a putative class action based on a data breach, primarily by arguing that its publicly posted privacy policy is not a...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
On March 17, the New York Times covered a new item on the growing list of high-profile data breaches with its article detailing how a British political consulting firm, Cambridge Analytica, obtained personal information from...more
If you’re going to demote or terminate your in-house tech expert, you should plan that event very carefully. Our firm is now helping a client with damage control and data recovery upon discovering – a week after their...more
In this month's edition of our Privacy & Cybersecurity Update, we examine the Identity Theft Research Center's findings on data breaches in 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court's denial of certiorari that leaves in place the circuit...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
A confluence of regulatory activity and policy debates seems to be laying the groundwork for future regulation of consumer financial data aggregation activities. The outcome of these activities could significantly affect how...more