Privacy and security continue to be at the forefront for legislatures across the nation, despite (or perhaps because of) the COVID-19 pandemic. In late May, with back-to-back amendments, Washington D.C. and Vermont significantly overhauled their data breach notification laws, including expansion of the definition of personal information, and heightened notice requirements. Now, Michigan may follow … Continue Reading
Last week, in its Cybersecurity Summer Newsletter, the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) published best practices for creating an IT asset inventory list to assist healthcare providers and business associates in understanding where electronic protected health information (ePHI) is located within their organization, and improve HIPAA Security Rule compliance. OCR investigations often find that organizations … Continue Reading
On July 21, 2020, the New York Department of Financial Services (“DFS”) filed its first enforcement action under New York’s Cybersecurity Requirements for Financial Services Companies, 23 N.Y.C.R.R. Part 500 (“Reg 500”). Reg 500, which took effect in March 2017, imposes wide-ranging and rigorous requirements on subject organizations and their service providers, which are summarized … Continue Reading
A little more than one year ago, we reported on a settlement (Cassell et al. v. Vanderbilt University, et al.) involving the alleged wrongful use of personal information belonging to retirement plan participants, claimed to be “plan assets.” This year, similar claims have been made against Shell Oil Company in connection with its 401(k) plan. Retirement … Continue Reading
As they work to combat the surging COVID-19 virus, healthcare providers recently were reminded by legislators and regulators of the importance of data security and privacy protections. On the data security front, U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal, Tom Cotton, David Perdue, and Mark Warner recently wrote to the Director of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s … Continue Reading
The debate over working from home continues, reaching a high point in 2013 when Marissa Mayer, then CEO of Yahoo, sought to curb the practice. However, as the Coronavirus continues to spread across the U.S., more companies are instructing their employees to work-from-home as a social distancing technique to help contain the spread and remain … Continue Reading
As announcements relaying the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19) continue daily, governmental agencies at all levels are offering information and guidance, and businesses are scrambling to prepare and protect their employees and customers. As part of a larger group in my firm helping to synthesize all this information, there is an aspect of responding to COVID-19 … Continue Reading
As we’ve previously reported, the New York Stop Hacks and Improve Electronic Data Security Act (the “SHIELD Act”) goes into effect on March 21, 2020. The SHIELD Act, which amends the State’s current data breach notification law, imposes more expansive data security and data breach notification requirements on companies, in the hope of ensuring better protection … Continue Reading
More than 500 United States schools (connected with 54 different education entities such as school districts and colleges) have been infected with ransomware during the first nine months of 2019, according to a recent report by cybersecurity firm Armor, making the education sector one of the leading ransomware targets, following only municipalities as the top … Continue Reading
A recent study surveying small and mid sized businesses (SMBs) found that 67% had experienced a cyber attack in 2018, and yet that same study found that cybersecurity is still “not on the to do list” for SMBs – 60% of the SMBs surveyed responded that they did not have a cybersecurity plan in place, … Continue Reading
Verizon recently published its 2019 Data Breach Investigations Report. This report is the 12th edition and contains an analysis of 41,686 security incidents with 2,013 confirmed breaches from 73 sources, including public and private entities. Included among its many findings, the report found high-level executives are twelve times more likely to be the target of … Continue Reading
During a presentation at the Professional Services Council Federal Acquisition Conference on June 13, 2019, a high-ranking Department of Defense (“DoD”) official announced, with dramatic flair, that cybersecurity is an allowable cost: “I need you all now to get out your pens and you better write this down and tell your teams: Hear it from … Continue Reading
All companies in this day and age must devote some attention to cybersecurity risks. Regardless of industry, almost every entity maintains some form of personally identifiable information that requires protection (e.g., credit card information, Social Security numbers, bank account information, etc.). However, the medical device industry has additional concerns – it must make sure that … Continue Reading
Happy Data Privacy Day from the Jackson Lewis Privacy, Data and Cybersecurity Team! In Honor of National Privacy Day, we are focused on what is sure to be one of the hottest issues of 2019 and present our FAQs for employers on the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). As you know, data privacy and security … Continue Reading
Earlier today, the Illinois Supreme Court handed down a significant decision concerning the ability of individuals to bring suit under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). In short, individuals need not allege actual injury or adverse effect, beyond a violation of his/her rights under BIPA, in order to qualify as an “aggrieved” person and be entitled to … Continue Reading
Privacy and cybersecurity risks continue to emerge for organizations large and small. While by no means exhaustive, we briefly discuss some key issues that organizations may need to focus on in 2019 and beyond. Business Email Compromise (BEC)/Email Account Compromise (EAC) – BEC and EAC attacks are widespread and show no sign of slowing in the … Continue Reading
Through its actions and publications, the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) has shown an increased focus on cybersecurity and the public disclosure of cybersecurity risks and incidents. In early 2018, the SEC issued a statement and an interpretative guide to assist companies with understanding and carrying out the agency’s disclosure obligations concerning cybersecurity risks and … Continue Reading
On September 23, 2018, Governor Jerry Brown signed into law SB-1121 amending certain provisions of the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA) which was enacted in June of this year. As we reported previously, CCPA will apply to any entity that does business in the State of California and satisfies one or more of … Continue Reading
Last month, South Dakota and Alabama became the final two states to enact a data breach notification law. In addition, many other states, in response to trends, heightened public awareness, and a string of large-scale data breaches, have continued amending their existing laws. Arizona is the latest state to update its data breach notification law to … Continue Reading
The New Jersey State Bar Association recently met to discuss, among other things, our favorite topic: Cybersecurity. (Perhaps our esteemed Privacy, e-Communication and Data Security Practice Group chair was there….) We wanted to briefly mention two critical points discussed: Critical Point #1: The biggest risk out there is employees. We employees click on all … Continue Reading
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently announced that it will launch a national education campaign to aid the small business sector in strengthening its cybersecurity and protecting its sensitive and personal data. The national education campaign builds on the FTC’s 2017 Small Business Initiative which included the creation of a new website: FTC.gov/SmallBusiness aimed at … Continue Reading
Co-Author: Thomas Buchan As reported in our blog post from November 6, 2017, the New York State Attorney General announced the release of the proposed Shield Act in early November, 2017. This new legislation (we have some links for you below) would make significant changes to New York’s cybersecurity provisions (primarily under General Business Law … Continue Reading
On April 17th, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (“NIST”), a component of the U.S. Commerce Department, released Version 1.1 of the Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity (“Cybersecurity Framework Version 1.1”), which incorporates feedback from NIST-led workshops, public comments, and questions received by NIST team members over the last two years. The Cybersecurity … Continue Reading
Nary a week goes by without news of a data breach by a healthcare provider…while there are certainly a good number of breaches resulting from a breach of cybersecurity defenses or from the wrongful exploitation of system security weaknesses, there is still a risk to healthcare providers resulting from the internal operations of the healthcare … Continue Reading
