Written Information Security Program

Subscribe to Written Information Security Program via RSS

On March 28th, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey (R) signed into law the Alabama Data Breach Notification Act, Act No. 2018-396, making Alabama the final state to enact a data breach notification law. South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard signed into a law a similar statute one-week prior. The Alabama law will take effect …

The deadline to comply with the GDPR’s complex and far ranging requirements is rapidly approaching.  As your organization races to implement its compliance program before the May 25, 2018 effective date, questions and concerns are likely to arise.  While there is no shortage of online guidance on the GDPR, finding answers to your specific questions…

Last week, the New York State Department of Financial Services (“DFS”) issued a press release to remind covered entities of an upcoming deadline under the DFS cybersecurity regulations.  The next deadline under the regulations is February 15, 2018 – by that date, any covered entities (hopefully, you know who you are) must submit a…

U.S. Customs searches have become increasingly invasive over the years. Pursuant to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) policy, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) operates under the “broad search exception”, which allows searches and seizures at international borders or an equivalent (e.g. international airports) without probable cause or a warrant. CBP’s searches are deemed…

This Sunday, January 28, is Data Privacy Day, which Congress recognized on Jan. 27, 2014, when it adopted S. Res. 337, supporting the designation. As noted by the National Cyber Security Alliance, Data Privacy Day began in the United States and Canada in January 2008, an extension of the Data Protection Day celebration…

Only two states in the United States lack data breach notification statutes, but that may change in 2018. If legislation pending in South Dakota passes, Alabama would be the only state without a data breach notification law.

South Dakota Senate Bill No. 62 would create a breach notification requirement for any person or business conducting…

Image result for morrisonsThe United Kingdom High Court recently issued a landmark liability judgment against the supermarket, Morrisons, following a data breach caused by a rogue employee (Various Claimants v. WM Morrisons Supermarket [2017] EWHC3113 (QB]). Similar results have been reached in the U.S., but this is the first time the UK Court has addressed…

Physician practices and other health care providers respond to numerous requests for confidential patient information from patients and others. Mistakes made by employees fulfilling such requests for medical records or making similar disclosures can expose the practice to civil litigation. A recent decision by the Connecticut Supreme Court (Byrne v. Avery Center for Obstetrics…

Image result for north carolina attorney generalCiting to estimates in 2017 “more than 5.3 million North Carolinians were … affected by a data breach,” Attorney General Josh Stein and Rep. Jason Saine announced on January 8 proposed legislation aimed at protecting state residents from becoming victims of identity theft. To do so, the “Act to Strengthen Identity Theft Protections” (see fact…

With the continuing parade of high profile data security breaches, the concern U.S. organizations have about the security of their systems and data has been steadily growing. And rightly so. Almost every organization processes (collects, uses, stores, or transmits) individually identifiable data. Much of this data is personal data, including employee data, which brings heightened…