The Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act or CISA passed the Senate this week by vote of 74-21, but not without controversy. CISA would not establish a generally applicable federal standard for safeguarding personal information, nor would it enact a federal breach notification requirement. Rather, if signed into law, CISA would among other things create a framework
Changes to California’s Data Breach Notification Requirements
On October 6, 2015, California Governor Jerry Brown signed three new laws which substantially alter and expand the state’s security breach notification requirements. The new changes to California Civil Code sections 1798.29 and 1798.82, the Golden State’s laws that require notifications by state agencies and private sector entities of certain breaches of security (i) provide
Wearables, Wellness and Privacy
Bloomberg BNA (subscription) recently reported that this fall the Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) will be issuing a report on Fitbit Inc.’s privacy practices. Avid runners, walkers or those up on the latest gadgets likely know about Fitbit, and its line of wearable fitness devices. Others may know about Fitbit due to the need
HIPAA Audits Maybe, But Audit Preparedness Definitely!
According to a Bloomberg article, the second phase of HIPAA audits by the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), originally set to commence in 2014, may be coming soon. This update came at a HIPAA conference co-hosted by OCR during which OCR Director Jocelyn Samuels said the agency was in the process of confirming contact
DoD Issues Interim Rule For Contractors on Incident Reporting and Cloud Computing Services
Government contractors have a wide range of unique challenges (find out more about these here), not the least of which is data security. A good example is the interim rule the Department of Defense (DoD) issued last month that implements sections of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 2013 and 2015.
Cancer Care Group to Pay $750,000 to Settle HIPAA Breach, as KPMG Finds 81 Percent of Hospitals and Health Insurance Companies had a Breach in the Past Two Years
On September 2, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) reported that it agreed to settle potential violations of the HIPAA privacy and security regulations with Cancer Care Group, Inc. The dollar amount of the settlement, $750,000, is significant, and the agreement to adopt a robust, multi-year corrective action plan under the watchful eye of the
Credit Monitoring Services Following Data Breach NOT Taxable Income to Employees, IRS Announces
When an employer is responding to a breach of their employees’ personal information, one of the last things they may think about is whether the value of the credit monitoring or other identity protection services they make available to affected employees should be considered taxable to the employees and reported as such. In Announcement 2015-22
Nevada Updated Its Definition of Personal Information, Have You?
When businesses set out to safeguard “personal information,” a fundamental consideration is what that term means. Likewise, when negotiating a third-party vendor agreement, it typically is not enough to rely on the standard definition for “confidential information.” Recently, Nevada and other states have updated their definitions of personal information in connection data breaches notification and
The Hololens From Microsoft – Help Can Be Right Under…Over Your Nose
The saying – never let them see you sweat – soon may be more difficult to accomplish with Microsoft’s Hololens. Like Google Glass, the Hololens is worn as a headset. But this device has a “plurality” of sensors that gather a range of biometrics parameters (heart rate, perspiration, etc.) which determine along with other
Connecticut State Contractors, Health Insurance Industry Businesses Subject to Enhanced Significant Data Security Mandates
In June, Connecticut’s governor signed into law Senate Bill 949 which amended the State’s breach notification statute. The requirement that covered businesses must provide one year of identity theft protection services for certain breaches, easily the most popular aspect of the legislation, may have diverted attention from some significant aspects of this new law.