Cities step up their efforts to combat the COVID-19 Delta variant. New York City, New Orleans, and San Francisco have all announced requirements for certain persons to produce evidence of COVID vaccination status in order to patronize or work indoors at certain establishments. Adding to an already complex patchwork of COVID-related regulation –
Biden Administration Issues Memo Focused on Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity
Following a series of major ransomware attacks, including against Colonial Pipeline, which provides the East Coast with 45 percent of its gasoline, jet fuel and diesel, President Biden issued a National Security Memorandum (“the Memorandum”) last week intent on improving cybersecurity for critical infrastructure systems. The Memorandum comes in follow up to the Biden Administration’s
Information Blocking and HIPAA’s Right to Access – Is Your Practice Compliant?
Patient record requests can be a significant administrative burden for health care providers. An OCR enforcement initiative and a new federal law give providers more reason to get this process right. We summarize these rules here.
Since the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Privacy Rule became effective in 2003, it
Connecticut Enacts Safe Harbor from Punitive Damages in Data Breach Cases
Effective October 1, 2021, Connecticut becomes the third state with a data breach litigation “safe harbor” law (Public Act No. 21-119), joining Utah and Ohio. In short, the Connecticut law prohibits courts in the state from assessing punitive damages in data breach litigation against a covered defendant that created, maintained, and complied with
Musings of Retirement Plan Fiduciaries on Cybersecurity: Episode Two
Individuals who serve as a fiduciaries to their company’s retirement plan often feel they may not be sufficiently informed or qualified to make prudent decisions for the plan. They might ask themselves: “How do I know which are prudent investments?” or “What amount of plan fees are ‘reasonable’”? Now, the DOL is requiring plan fiduciaries
DOL Has Started to Audit Compliance with Its Cybersecurity Guidelines
In April, we posted about the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) issuing cybersecurity guidance for employee retirement plans. That is, April 14, 2021. Shortly thereafter, the DOL updated its audit inquiries to include probing questions for plan fiduciaries about their compliance with “hot off the press” agency guidelines.
So, what
Colorado Becomes Third State To Enact a Comprehensive Privacy Law
Colorado is officially the third U.S. state to enact comprehensive privacy legislation, following California and Virginia. The Colorado General Assembly passed the Colorado Privacy Act (CPA), Senate Bill 21-109, on June 8, 2021, and Governor Jared Polis signed it into law on July 7, 2021.
The Colorado Privacy Act takes effect July 1,
The “New” EU Standard Contractual Clauses: FAQs for U.S. Organizations
Globalization, compliance, and the growth in outsourcing have created a myriad of cross-border data transfer scenarios. These scenarios include marketing to and servicing customers, assessing global compliance with diversity and including goals, and outsourcing back office business functions. However, the emergence of far reaching data privacy regulation, such as the EU General Data Protection Regulation
NIST Preliminary Draft Cybersecurity Framework Profile for Ransomware Risk Management Provides Risk Management Strategies
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) recently released a preliminary draft of its Cybersecurity Framework Profile for Ransomware Risk Management. The public comment period for this draft runs through July 9, 2021. NIST says “The profile can be used as a guide to managing the risk of ransomware events. That includes helping
City of Baltimore May Criminalize the Use of Facial Recognition Technologies by Businesses
The Baltimore City Council recently passed an ordinance, in a vote of 13-2, barring the use of facial recognition technology by city residents, businesses, and most of the city government (excluding the city police department) until December 2022. Council Bill 21-0001 prohibits persons from “obtaining, retaining, accessing, or using certain face surveillance technology or any