The effects of hurricanes like Harvey and the approaching Irma should be a reminder to all businesses of the importance of disaster recovery planning. When a storm approaches, a business’s first concern is how to protect its employees and physical property. However, we shouldn’t forget that a natural disaster can also destroy a business’s information
Timeline for Compliance with New DFS Cybersecurity Regulations
The deadline to comply with the first set of requirements under the new DFS Cybersecurity Regulations (“the Regulations”) is here! By today, August 28, 2017, businesses subject to the Regulations must ensure that they:
- Designate a Chief Information Security Officer (“CISO”)
- Establish a Cybersecurity Program
- Develop a Written Cybersecurity Policy.
We have prepared an
Maryland Amends Personal Information Protection Act
The Maryland General Assembly has recently amended its Maryland Personal Information Protection Act, House Bill 974, effective January 1, 2018. Notable amendments expand the definition of personal information, modify the definition of breach of the security of the system, provide a 45-day timeframe for notification, allow alternative notice for breaches that enable an individual’s
Washington Joins Growing List of States with Laws Protecting Biometric Information
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?
- It prohibits “persons” from
Illinois Class Actions Spark New Attention For Biometric Data Applications
Capturing the time employees’ work can be a difficult business. In addition to the complexity involved with accurately tracking arrival times, lunch breaks, overtime, etc. across a range of federal and state laws (check out our Wage and Hour colleagues who keep up on all of these issues), many employers worry about “buddy punching”
Law Firms: Updated Cybersecurity Primer and Other Resources
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
BTI Names Jackson Lewis one of the Top Cybersecurity Firms
The BTI Law Firms Best at Cybersecurity 2017, a report issued by the BTI Consulting Group (pdf), lists Jackson Lewis as one of the country’s top law firms for cybersecurity and data privacy. The report was compiled “based solely on in-depth telephone interviews with leading legal decision makers,” representing more than 15 different industry segments
Small Healthcare Provider Pays $31,000 for Failing to Have a Business Associate Agreement With File Storage Vendor
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
Association of Corporate Counsel Develops Model Information Protection and Security Controls for Outside Vendors, Including Outside Counsel
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”
Expert Insights on Developing a Physical Security Program
In today’s digital age, security tends to be thought about in terms of firewalls, malware, encryption and other safeguards for electronic systems. But the security of those systems, as well as an organization’s facilities, people and other critical assets depends significantly on physical security as well. We are delighted to share below some thoughts from