While on a plane last week, I read a great Wall Street Journal (WSJ) article called “How to Keep Your Mobile Banking Safe.” Although I question whether anyone can keep their online bank account completely safe, it was a good...more
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced in a press release on September 25, 2019, that it has filed a Complaint against Match Group, Inc. (Match), the owner of Match.com, Tinder, OKCupid, PlentyOfFish and other...more
9/30/2019
/ Antitrust Provisions ,
Dating Services ,
Enforcement Actions ,
False Advertising ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Fraudulent Marketing ,
Online Advertisements ,
Online Platforms ,
Social Networks ,
Subscription Services ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices
Many cities in the United States utilize a self-pay portal for residents to pay bills online, known as Click2Gov. Click2Gov was compromised in 2017 and 2018, when hackers were able to access over 300,000 payment cards and...more
Vimeo, Inc. was sued last week in a class action case alleging that it violated the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act by “collecting, storing and using Plaintiff’s and other similarly situated individuals’ biometric...more
Despite the fact that security experts have emphasized the importance of cyber education and training as a preventative measure to protect against a devastating data breach, Chubb’s Third Annual Cyber Risk Survey finds that...more
The Ecuadorian Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Security has announced an investigation into data analytics company Novaestrat after news broke this week that the company left an Elasticsearch server open...more
9/23/2019
/ California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Collection ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Ecuador ,
Hackers ,
Passwords ,
Personal Data ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Popular
I am not a big fan of putting all of one’s passwords in one place, but many people use password managers. If you use Last Pass (see previous blog posts about Last Pass here and here), be aware that it was recently advised by...more
9/20/2019
/ Cyber Attacks ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Security ,
Google ,
Multi-Factor Authentication ,
Online Platforms ,
Passwords ,
Risk Management ,
Search Engines ,
Vulnerability Assessments ,
Websites
The Ecuadorian Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Security has announced an investigation into data analytics company Novaestrat after news broke this week that the company left an Elasticsearch server open...more
Emerging technology has vastly outpaced corporate governance and strategy, and the use of data in the past has consistently been “grab it” and figure out a way to use it and monetize it later. ...more
The Wolcott school system in Wolcott, Connecticut has been recovering for four months from a ransomware attack that hit its system at the end of the school year. Last week, it was hit with a second attack. According to...more
9/13/2019
/ Consumer Privacy Rights ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Privacy ,
Debt Collectors ,
Digital Assets ,
Educational Institutions ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Hackers ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Healthcare ,
Medical Records ,
Municipalities ,
NIST ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Ransomware ,
TCPA
The Wolcott school system in Wolcott, Connecticut has been recovering for four months from a ransomware attack that hit its system at the end of the school year when it was hit with a second attack last week. ...more
The pace and number of cyber-attacks against municipalities and school systems is staggering and likes of which we have never seen. Municipalities and school systems are obvious targets for cyber criminals as it is well known...more
9/13/2019
/ Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Protection ,
Educational Institutions ,
Employee Training ,
Hackers ,
Municipalities ,
Public Schools ,
Ransomware ,
School Districts
I haven’t written about digital assets in a while and I was reminded of the importance of putting digital assets into your estate plan this week in a conversation with a colleague....more
July 2019 was the worst month in history for health care data breaches, with a total of 50 breaches that affected a total of more than 500 records reported to the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) according to HIPAA Journal. ...more
9/6/2019
/ Cyber Attacks ,
Data Breach ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Hackers ,
Health Information Technologies ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Healthcare ,
HIPAA Breach ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Phishing Scams ,
Popular ,
Ransomware
After all of the GDPR compliance assessments, implementation and hullaballoo in the last year or so, many companies chose to certify that they are compliant with the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield framework rather than implementing a...more
Spam is invading all aspects of our online life, and of late, even our online calendars. I hadn’t thought about embedded malware in calendar invites until I read an informative krebsonsecurity.com blog article this week. ...more
It’s a busy time for colleges and universities as the fall semester starts and campuses are bustling with activity. It’s also the perfect time for cyber criminals to create mayhem for institutions of higher education with a...more
8/30/2019
/ Colleges ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Privacy ,
Debit and Credit Card Transactions ,
Drones ,
Educational Institutions ,
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ,
Marketing ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Popular ,
Robocalling ,
Universities ,
Unmanned Aircraft Systems ,
Vulnerability Assessments
Although the number of security vulnerabilities reported in the first half of 2019 have reported dropped a bit from last year, a new report by Risk Based Security states that 34 percent of the 11,092 vulnerabilities...more
It’s a busy time for colleges and universities as the fall semester starts and campuses are bustling with activity. It’s also the perfect time for cyber criminals to create mayhem for institutions of higher education with a...more
8/30/2019
/ Colleges ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Threats ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Protection ,
Educational Institutions ,
Hackers ,
Information Technology ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Ransomware ,
Universities
No one likes a robocall. Yet, we all get them, and the increased frequency of robocalls is astounding. I now don’t pick up any calls on either my residential line or my cell phone unless it is a known number. It can be quite...more
There are a numerous subscription based services available to consumers that allow us to provide our debit or credit card numbers to obtain a subscription for services....more
We have definitely seen an uptick in the number of ransomware attacks against municipalities around the country. Thus far, the attacks have been against single cities, towns, and court systems, and recently against a...more
In another example of a data breach allegedly caused by a vendor, Choice Hotels is contacting approximately 700,000 of its customers regarding a data breach caused by a third-party vendor that “copied the impacted data from...more
This month, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that it has entered into a settlement with SimplyVital Health, Inc., a blockchain company that offered and sold approximately $6.3 million worth of securities...more
8/26/2019
/ Blockchain ,
Capital Raising ,
Cease and Desist Orders ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Healthcare ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Investment Products ,
Offerings ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Settlement Agreements ,
Token Sales ,
Unregistered Securities ,
Virtual Currency
We have definitely seen an uptick in the number of ransomware attacks against municipalities around the country. Thus far, the attacks have been against single cities, towns, and court systems, and recently against a...more
8/25/2019
/ Beyond Visual Line Of Sight (BVLOS) ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Insurance ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Privacy ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Drones ,
EHR ,
Hackers ,
Hotels ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Insurance Claims ,
Mobile Apps ,
Municipalities ,
Policy Terms ,
Popular ,
Ransomware ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Settlement Agreements ,
Token Sales