On July 21, 2017, Judge John A. Ross of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri issued a preliminary approval of a settlement agreement between the owner of AshleyMadison.com and the class representing...more
Whether it means taking a prominent role shaping data security for the Internet of Things, or addressing high profile breaches, the FTC has adopted an active position in policing data privacy and security. And, as data...more
It’s hard to keep up with all the recent changes to labor and employment law. While the law always seems to evolve at a rapid pace, there have been an unprecedented number of changes each month in 2017. July was no different,...more
On Friday, July 21, users of the “married dating” website, ashleymadison.com, received preliminary approval of an $11.2 million class action settlement. This settlement seeks to resolve a number of consolidated lawsuits...more
Ashley Madison, which suffered a data breach in 2015 involving the loss of 37 million users’ personal and financial information, has settled the suit for $11.2 million....more
According to the Breach Level Index, the total number of data records lost or stolen in just the first half of 2016 was 554,454,942, stemming from 974 breach incidents. In the entire year of 2015, there were 707.5 million...more
In 2016, cybersecurity continued to grow as a primary business risk for companies worldwide. Data breaches continued to escalate both in number and magnitude and the landscape of legal and regulatory liability evolved and...more
Remember the 2015 AshleyMadison.com data breach, where hackers gained access to the personal information of about 36 million users from over 46 countries, and threatened and carried through on their promise to release the...more
On December 14, 2016, the Federal Trade Commission (the “FTC”) announced that ruby Corp., ruby Life Inc., and ADL Media Inc. (the “Defendants”) agreed to a settlement with the FTC, 13 states, and the District of Columbia. ...more
The United States Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") strikes again. In the action by the FTC involving the cybersecurity breach of Toronto-based AshleyMadison.com (operated by Ruby Corp. and hereafter referred to as "Ashley...more
On December 14, 2016, operators of online extramarital dating and social networking website AshleyMadison.com came to an agreement with the Federal Trade Commission, and several States, to settle FTC and related state charges...more
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has entered into a multimillion dollar settlement with the owners and operators of AshleyMadison.com, a dating website for people interested in having discreet affairs, related to the...more
Yesterday, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) announced a settlement with the owners of “dating site” AshleyMadison.com, arising from a July 2015 data breach that received broad media coverage. According to a proposed...more
We have previously reported on the Ashley Madison data breach and subsequent litigation. On December 14th, Ashley Madison announced that it has agreed to pay $1.6 million and implement additional security measures to settle...more
Fortune.com reported that according to an International Data Corporation (IDC) forecast, by 2020, spending on security-related hardware, software, and services will eclipse $100 billion. However, consulting company NTT Com...more
In July 2015, the online cheating website Ashley Madison was hacked and data pertaining to its 37 million users were published online. The story made headlines given the sensitive nature of the information exposed, the number...more
A quote attributed to FBI Director Robert Mueller is, “There are only two types of companies: those that have been hacked and those that will be”. The assessment of the Ashley Madison cyber-attack has lessons for all...more
In the world of cyber hacks and leaks, there are two general categories of players: the fraudsters who steal data in order to obtain a profit, and the “hacktivists” who expose data, purportedly for the greater good....more
Nothing good has come from the Ashley Madison hacking incident, except hopefully some well-deserved apologies to loved ones. Now the E.D. Mo. Court hearing the In Re Ashley Madison Customer Security Breach Litigation, MDL No....more
We’ve previously written about the distinctions between hacking credit and other financial data in comparison to hacking private information. (See Ashley Madison and Coming to “Terms” with Data Protection.) The issue of how...more
We all remember the Ashley Madison data breach. The hackers, calling themselves “The Impact Team” requested that the Ashley Madison extramarital affair site, and Cougar Life and Established Men sites be “taken down.” When...more
The threat of commercial crime against companies is transforming. Technology has created new and innovative ways for fraudsters to exploit individuals and companies through cyber attacks. This new face of fraud can give rise...more
As anticipated in our previous discussion of the Ashley Madison data breach litigation, lawyers representing the various putative classes have begun sparring over their preferred venues. The Missouri Jane Doe – who filed the...more
Every business would love to find a fortune teller to give it insight into what trends to follow, which risks to take, and when “exposure” will convert to liability. Some clients might say that, unfortunately, their lawyers...more
Add dating website Ashley Madison to the list of large companies like Target, Home Depot and Michael’s that have had customer information stolen by hackers. Published reports say Ashley Madison is now facing multiple lawsuits...more