Welcome to Holland & Knight's monthly data privacy and security news update that includes the latest in policy, regulatory updates and other significant developments....more
With an ever-expanding digital toolkit, education leaders must work harder than ever to safeguard student data. Join Bricker Graydon attorneys Jeff Knight and Nancy Magoteaux in a discussion that celebrates Data Privacy Day...more
PCS Revenue Control Systems, Inc. (PCS) was hit with a proposed class action lawsuit last week alleging that it discovered a data breach from a hacking attack in December 2019 but failed to notify the affected students until...more
As colleges and universities know, higher education institutions have a duty to protect the confidentiality of student records, codified in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (“FERPA”), 20 U.S.C. § 1232g. When...more
This post was co-authored with Kaylee Rose, first-year law student at Cumberland School of Law: Vermont Amends Data Breach Notification Law - On July 1, 2020, amendments to Vermont’s Security Breach Notice Act, 9 V.S.A. §§...more
School leaders are often understandably confused as to which law applies to health- or medical-related records in schools: The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) or the Health Insurance Portability and...more
As part of the New York State budget for the 2014-2015 school year, Education Law §2-d was enacted to make provisions to protect the personally identifiable information contained in student records and in principal and...more
As discussed in a previous DBR on Data post, the U.S. Department of Education (“ED”) in recent years has repeatedly emphasized the importance of higher education institutions taking all appropriate measures to secure and...more
Across the country, school districts use technology to facilitate learning and assist in classroom management. From tracking grades and communicating with parents to monitoring bathroom breaks, technology is everywhere in our...more
This summer, Pearson notified a handful of Illinois school districts that its AIMSweb 1.0 Platform had experienced a data breach that impacted over 13,000 account holders nationally. ...more
Federal Updates - The House plans to take up a continuing resolution this week to extend government funding at current levels into November. ...more
California’s San Diego Unified School District recently disclosed that it had sustained a data breach when multiple phishing emails from malicious hackers were used to gather login information of staff members throughout the...more
In June of 2018, California passed the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), which seeks to give consumers additional safeguards regarding their personal information. The CCPA will become effective January of 2020 and may...more
It should come as no surprise that educational institutions are among the top targets for hackers and purveyors of personally identifiable information. In 2017, only the financial and healthcare sectors had more data...more
When it comes to digital threats, universities must protect not only a broad and deeply layered infrastructure, but also vast populations of students. In this episode, Elisa D’Amico and Desiree Moore outline their top five...more
At both the college and the grade school levels, administrators and researchers are thinking of creative ways to work together to use student data to drive success, with benefits to both levels of schools. ...more
As we move into the second half of the school year, we want to remind districts and charter schools of the importance of securing and protecting student data. Educators use and share student data in dynamic ways that improve...more
As New York public schools increase the use of technology in day-to-day operations and in the classroom, they increasingly face data management and data security threats similar to those faced by businesses and non-profit...more
Colorado is the latest state to revisit, and expand upon, its laws pertaining to the use and protection of student data. Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper recently signed into law House Bill 16-1423 (the “Bill”) designed to...more
In working with school districts and charter schools, our firm has learned that many clients may have entered into agreements that lack key contract terms necessary to protect student data privacy. In other cases, we have...more
California again has provided a model of privacy legislation for other states to follow. New Hampshire Governor Maggie Hassan recently signed into law House Bill 520 (the “Bill”), a bipartisan effort to establish guidelines...more
A classroom teacher comes across a promising online educational service or application that she wants to use with her students and comes to you to make sure it’s legally appropriate. The service or app would collect and use...more
In January 2015, the US Department of Education has issued an advisory to all elementary and secondary schools on data privacy and security issues to be considered in negotiating agreements with online service providers or...more
High-profile data breaches and cyber-attacks on well-known brands and businesses have dominated the news cycle for more than a year. Yet during the same time, less visible, but no less important efforts have been made to...more
On January 12 President Obama visited the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) where he unveiled several new data security and privacy initiatives, including proposed legislation to create a national data breach notification law...more