Not to be outdone by the recent attention to biometric information in Illinois, and the Prairie State’s Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), Washington enacted a biometric data protection statute of its own, HB 1493, which became effective July 23, 2017.
What it notable about Washington’s new biometric information law?
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Data breach “horror” stories have become a new staple in today’s business environment. The frequency of attacks which threaten (or compromise) the security of business networks and information systems continually increases — in the health care space alone (which holds the dubious honor of Most Likely To Be Attacked), a FBI and HHS’ Office for…
Human Resources (“HR”) and information technology (“IT”) departments play unique and important roles within an organization. With instances of data breaches on the rise, however, companies should be mindful of the importance of regular communication and collaboration between employees in these departments with respect to issues of data security. Addressing such issues should not be…
As you likely know by now, international cybercriminals launched a worldwide ransomware attack last Friday with the European law enforcement agency Europol reporting over 100,000 affected organizations in 150 countries, including the U.S. Reports indicate that health care providers, universities, and other large companies were all targeted. The Department of Health and Human Services also …
Several years ago, we published a short primer for law firms intending to provide a brief discussion of key cybersecurity issues, including some helpful steps for safeguarding the client personal and confidential information they maintain. Since then, attacks against firms have increased, ethical rules are tightening, and clients are growing concerned. In at…
On May 11, 2017 – after weeks of anticipation – the White House released an Executive Order on Strengthening the Cybersecurity of Federal Networks and Critical Infrastructure. There could not be better timing with a global cyberattack unleashing ransomware against governments and companies in nearly 100 countries around the globe. This newly released Executive Order…
Disclosing protected health information (PHI) to a business associate without a compliant business associate agreement (BAA) is an improper disclosure under the HIPAA privacy and security regulations. According to the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR), an error like that can cost a small healthcare provider $31,000.
OCR recently announced a resolution agreement (pdf) with…
Facing increasingly pervasive issues relating to privacy and data security companies are faced with what qualifications they should think about when looking to hire experts in these areas, and their role within the company is becoming increasingly vital. Moreover, unlike hiring for other positions it is common that a CEO lacks the knowledge and background…
The Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC), which represents over 42,000 in-house counsel across 85 countries, recently released its ACC Chief Legal Officers (CLO) 2017 Survey which found that two-thirds of in-house legal leaders ranked data protection and information privacy as ‘very’ or ‘extremely’ important. In response to this growing concern, the ACC recently released “first-of-its-kind”…
As you know if you regularly read this blog, the New York State DFS finally finalized its “first-in-the-nation” cybersecurity rules with an effective date of March 1, 2017. And their reach is quite large: DFS-supervised entities from insurers and banks to mortgage brokers and credit unions (and their third-party service providers) will have to begin…
