As the year comes to a close here are some of the highlights from the Workplace Privacy, Data Management & Security Report with our most popular topics and posts from 2024.
Expanding State Privacy Laws
This year saw a further expansion of state comprehensive consumer data privacy laws. These legislative measures aim to enhance the…
A healthcare provider delivering pain management services in Florida and other states faces a $1.19 million civil monetary penalty from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office for Civil Rights (OCR). The OCR investigation stems from a data breach, but not the type of breach we are used to seeing in…
Announcing its fourth ransomware cybersecurity investigation and settlement, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) also observed there has been a 264% increase in large ransomware breaches since 2018.
Here, the OCR reached an agreement with a medium-size private healthcare provider following a ransomware attack relating to potential violations of the HIPAA Security Rule.
A little more than three years ago, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) posted cybersecurity guidance on its website for ERISA plan fiduciaries. That guidance extended only to ERISA-covered retirement plans, despite health and welfare plans facing similar risks to participant data.
Last Friday, the DOL’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) issued Compliance Assistance Release…
With organizations holding more and more data digitally, there is an increased need to ensure data remains accessible across the organization at any given time. To that end, many organizations use tools that synchronize the organization’s data across various databases, applications, cloud services, and mobile devices, which involves updating data in real-time or at scheduled…
The Swiss Federal Council has added the U.S. to the list of countries with an adequate level of data protection. Effective September 15, 2024, U.S. organizations that certify to the Swiss–U.S. Data Privacy Framework (DPF) can commence receiving transfers of personal data from Switzerland without implementing additional safeguards.
While U.S. organizations were permitted to certify…
Virtually all organizations have an obligation to safeguard their personal data against unauthorized access or use, and, in some instances, to notify affected individuals in the event such access or use occurs. Those obligations are, in some instances, relatively nebulous, and organizations—for better or worse—have flexibility to determine what pre-incident safeguards and post-incident responsive actions…
In 2021, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued cybersecurity guidance for ERISA-covered retirement plans. The guidance expands the duties retirement plan fiduciaries have when selecting service providers. Specifically, the DOL makes clear that when selecting retirement plan service providers, plan fiduciaries must prudently assess the cybersecurity of those providers.
On May 15, 2024…
As organizations continue to take steps to prevent cyberattacks, a near-universal recommendation is that they should implement multi-factor authentication (MFA), and for good reason. Organizations subject to the updated FTC Safeguards Rule, for example, are required to implement MFA. The Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) includes MFA as a best practice. And…
As the year comes to a close here are some of the highlights from the Workplace Privacy, Data Management & Security Report with our Top 10 most popular topics from 2023.
There was a landslide of comprehensive state privacy laws passed in 2023, from coast to coast. The laws are…
