A $300,640 settlement announced yesterday by the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) provides important reminders about HIPAA Privacy Rule and data privacy practices generally: robust data disposal practices are critical and “protected health information” (PHI) is not limited to diagnosis or particularly sensitive information.
The OCR’s settlement involved a New England dermatology practice that reported
Organizations attacked with ransomware have a bevy of decisions to make, very quickly! One of those decisions is whether to pay the ransom. Earlier this year, I had the honor of contributing to a two-part series, entitled Ransomware: To pay or not to pay? (Part 1 and Part 2). Joined by Danielle Gardiner
According to a recent survey, about 45% of companies do not have a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO). As West Monroe’s “The Importance of a CISO” observes, it would be terrific for all organizations to have a CISO, but that simply may not be practical for some, particularly smaller organizations. Recent internal
The Massachusetts Information Privacy and Security Act (MIPSA) continues to advance through the state legislative process, and is now before the full legislature. While the Act has several hurdles to clear before becoming law, its notable for two reasons. First, the comprehensive nature of the MIPSA exemplifies the direction state data protection laws are heading
On February 9, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) voted to propose rule 206(4)-9 under the Advisers Act and 38a-2 under the Investment Company Act (collectively, “Proposed Rule”). In general, the Proposed Rule would require all advisers and funds to adopt and implement cybersecurity policies and procedures containing several elements. While acknowledging spending on cybersecurity
Facial recognition, voiceprint, and other biometric-related technology are booming, and they continue to infiltrate different facets of everyday life. The technology brings countless potential benefits, as well as significant data privacy and cybersecurity risks.
Whether it is facial recognition technology being used with COVID-19 screening tools and in law enforcement, continued use of fingerprint-based time
In honor of Data Privacy Day, we provide the following “Top 10 for 2022.” While the list is by no means exhaustive, it does provide some hot topics for organizations to consider in 2022.
On January 1, 2020, the CCPA ushered into the U.S. a range of new rights for
Few want to get past the COVID-19 pandemic more than leaders of federal and state unemployment benefit departments. For the last 2 years they have been successfully targeted for fraud and data breaches, racking up billions in losses. Thousands of employees across the country, including yours truly, have had false claims submitted in their name.
The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), considered one of the most expansive U.S. privacy laws to date, went into effect on January 1, 2020. The CCPA placed significant limitations on the collection and sale of a consumer’s personal information and provides consumers new and expansive rights with respect to their personal information.
Less than one
Efforts to secure systems and data from a cyberattack often focus on measures such as multifactor authentication (MFA), endpoint monitoring solutions, antivirus protections, and role-based access management controls, and for good reason. But there is a basic principle of data protection that when applied across an organization can significantly reduce the impact of a data