As everyone is aware, the Pokémon GO craze has taken the world by storm in the past month. Reports estimate there have been over 75 million downloads of the digital game since the program became available on July 6. Apple has not issued any concrete numbers, but has confirmed that it was the most downloaded
5 Practice Tips for Law Firms as Data Breach Spotlight Swings Their Way
While data breach incidents affecting the entertainment, retail, healthcare, and financial industries have garnered more attention in past years, the data breach spotlight recently shifted to law firms.
This shift was triggered by media coverage of the breach and leak of the Panama Papers, and by reports that, in 2015, hackers breached the networks
Illinois Enacts Amendments to the Personal Information Protection Act
Last month, Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner signed into law a number of amendments to the State’s Personal Information Protection Act (“PIPA”) that expand the definition of protected personal information and increase certain data breach notification requirements. The amendments, highlighted below, take effect January 1, 2017.
Currently, “personal information” is limited to an individual’s first name
Employers Beware of Phishing Scams
On April 20, 2016, a class action lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court, Southern District of California against Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. The lawsuit was initiated by a former employee whose W-2 was allegedly disclosed as part of a phishing scam that occurred in late March 2016 amid reports that Sprouts’ employees
Tennessee Amends Breach Notification Statute
On March 24, 2016, Tennessee’s breach notification statute was amended when Governor Bill Haslam signed into law S.B. 2005.
Under the amendment, notification of a data breach must now be provided to any affected Tennessee resident within 45-days after discovery of the breach (absent a delay request from law enforcement). Previously, and like the
The Inexplicit Requirement and Definitive Necessity for Employers to Implement Privacy Policies
In the face of seemingly daily news reports of company data breaches and the mounting legislative concern and efforts on both the state and federal level to enact laws safeguarding personal information maintained by companies, employers should be questioning whether they should implement privacy policies to address the protection of personal information they maintain on
Reasonable Data Security Defined by California AG
Last week, California Attorney General, Kamala D. Harris – who has been mentioned as a potential nominee to fill Justice Antonin Scalia’s recently vacated seat on the U.S. Supreme Court – issued the California Data Breach Report (Report). The Report provides an analysis of the data breaches reported to the California AG from 2012-2015.
Top 10 for 2016 – Happy Data Privacy Day
In honor of Data Privacy Day, we provide the following “Top 10 for 2016.” While the list is by no means exhaustive, it does provide some hot topics for organizations to consider in 2016.
EU/U.S. Data Transfer (status of Safe Harbor). On October 6, 2015, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled
FDA Issues Draft Cybersecurity Guidance for Device Manufacturers
Last week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued draft guidance outlining important steps medical device manufacturers should take to address cybersecurity risks to keep patients safe and better protect the public health. The draft guidance, which details the agency’s recommendations for monitoring, identifying, and addressing cybersecurity vulnerabilities in medical devices after they have
FCC Data Security Enforcement Continues
Demonstrating its continued commitment to data security enforcement, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently announced Cox Communications Inc., the nation’s third largest cable operator, agreed to pay $595,000 to resolve an investigation into whether the company failed to properly protect its customers’ personal information. The agreement ends the first data security enforcement action brought by