At the beginning of this month, more than 4,000 privacy professionals from around the globe gathered in Washington, D.C. for the International Association of Privacy Professionals’ Global Privacy Summit 2019....more
5/17/2019
/ California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Collection ,
Data Protection ,
Enforcement Actions ,
EU Data Protection Laws ,
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) ,
International Data Transfers ,
Personal Data ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Popular ,
Risk Management
A recent decision from the Supreme Court of Illinois heightens the risks faced by companies collecting biometric information by holding that an individual who is the subject of a violation of Illinois’ Biometric Information...more
2/15/2019
/ Amusement Parks ,
Article III ,
Biometric Information ,
Biometric Information Privacy Act ,
Data Collection ,
Data Privacy ,
Facial Recognition Technology ,
Fingerprints ,
IL Supreme Court ,
Injury-in-Fact ,
Liquidated Damages ,
Personal Data ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Standing ,
Statutory Violations
The California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (the “CCPA” or the “Act”), which we reported on here and here continues to make headlines as the California legislature fast-tracked a “clean up” bill to amend the CCPA before the...more
Game-changing Calif. Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 puts statutory breach damages on the table -
The recently-enacted California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 is a game-changer in a number of respects. The Act imports...more
8/24/2018
/ Class Action ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Protection ,
Hackers ,
New Legislation ,
Personal Data ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Popular ,
Risk Management ,
State and Local Government ,
State Data Breach Notification Statutes
The recent ransomware attack on the City of Atlanta highlights the fact that the threat of ransomware affects all organizations, regardless of the nature of their industry, business, or operations, and that political...more
4/4/2018
/ Cyber Attacks ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Denial of Service Attacks ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Phishing Scams ,
Popular ,
Public Entities ,
Public Finance ,
Ransomware ,
Risk Management
A recent skirmish about standing in data breach class actions (this time in the Eighth Circuit), involving securities and brokerage firm Scottrade, suggests that, even if plaintiffs win that limited question, there are other...more
10/31/2017
/ Article III ,
Brokerage Accounts ,
Class Action ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Data Breach ,
Hackers ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Popular ,
Scottrade ,
Standing
This week, a high profile plaintiffs’ firm (Edelson) stated that “if done right,” the data breach class actions against Equifax should yield more than $1 billion in cash going directly to more than 143 million consumers...more
10/16/2017
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Credit Reporting Agencies ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Protection ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Equifax ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Hackers ,
Identity Theft ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Popular ,
Risk Management ,
Settlement ,
Vulnerability Assessments
In the latest sign that data breach class actions are here to stay—and, indeed, growing—the D.C. Circuit resuscitated claims against health insurer CareFirst BlueCross and Blue Shield, following a 2015 breach that compromised...more
9/8/2017
/ Article III ,
Blue Cross ,
Blue Shield ,
CareFirst ,
Class Action ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
GLBA Privacy ,
Hackers ,
Health Insurance ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Identity Theft ,
Injury-in-Fact ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Popular ,
Standing
August 28, 2017 marks the end of the initial 180-day grace period for compliance under the New York Department of Financial Services’ “first-in-the-nation” cybersecurity regulations (the “Rules”). The initial regulations...more
8/31/2017
/ Banking Sector ,
Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) ,
Covered Entities ,
Cybersecurity ,
Cybersecurity Framework ,
Data Protection ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Information Technology ,
Insurance Industry ,
NYDFS ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Popular ,
Risk Management
States were busy updating their data breach notification statutes in 2016. With 2016 in the rear view, let’s take a look back at the legislative changes that will impact corporate incident response processes and what those...more
The Sixth Circuit joined the growing trend of appellate courts holding that plaintiffs had demonstrated standing for data breach class actions in Galaria et al. v. Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company. In a recent order, the...more
10/5/2016
/ Article III ,
Class Action ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Data Breach ,
Insurance Industry ,
Nationwide Insurance Co. ,
Neiman Marcus ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
PF Chang's ,
Popular ,
Standing
There is no doubt that companies face unprecedented volume and variation in both disruptive and intrusive cyberattacks on their networks. Among the different attack methodologies today, ransomware is quickly becoming a major...more
7/29/2016
/ Breach Notification Rule ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Cyber Threats ,
Cybersecurity ,
Hackers ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Malware ,
Notification Requirements ,
OCR ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
PHI ,
Popular ,
Ransomware
Last week, the Seventh Circuit revived a data breach class action against P.F. Chang’s restaurant in an important opinion that continues a plaintiff-friendly trend that began with the court’s opinion in the Neiman Marcus case...more
Tennessee recently amended its data breach notification law, and in doing so, it has joined the ranks of states like Florida, Ohio, and Wisconsin that require notification to residents of a data breach within a defined time...more
In a much anticipated move, on March 2, 2016, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) entered the cybersecurity foray with its first enforcement action against Dwolla, Inc., an online payment processing start-up. ...more
As we head into the end of 2015, state legislators across the country continue to strengthen, update and, in some instances, broaden the scope of their respective state data breach notification laws. Specifically, many...more
10/1/2015
/ Bank Accounts ,
Breach Notification Rule ,
Credit Cards ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Breach Plans ,
Data Protection ,
Data Security ,
Debit Cards ,
Hackers ,
Passwords ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Privacy Laws ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Social Security Numbers
Officials at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights (HHS OCR) have recently selected a vendor to conduct the second wave of HIPAA audits. These so-called “Phase 2 Audits” are set to commence...more
9/21/2015
/ Audits ,
Breach Notification Rule ,
Business Associates ,
Compliance ,
Corrective Actions ,
Covered Entities ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Healthcare ,
HITECH Act ,
Incident Response Plans ,
OCR ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Privacy Policy ,
Privacy Rule ,
Risk Assessment ,
Security Rule
Officials at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights (HHS OCR) have recently selected a vendor to conduct the second wave of HIPAA audits. These so-called "Phase 2 Audits" are set to commence...more
9/21/2015
/ Breach Notification Rule ,
Cloud Computing ,
Corrective Actions ,
Covered Entities ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Security ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Electronic Medical Records ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Healthcare ,
HITECH Act ,
Hospitals ,
OCR ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
PHI ,
Privacy Rule ,
Risk Assessment
Last month the German Federal Government IT Advisory Committee ("Federal IT Committee") issued new cloud computing service criteria for all prospective vendors to German Federal Agencies. Cloud services providers who offer,...more
Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (HHS OCR) announced that it had entered into a settlement agreement with St. Elizabeth's Medical Center (SEMC) in Brighton,...more
7/31/2015
/ Compliance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corrective Actions ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Security ,
De-Identified Protected Health Information ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
EHR ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
OCR ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Security Rule ,
Settlement