UPDATE: The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has reached a settlement with two telecom companies in connection with allegations the telecom companies violated the law regarding the privacy of phone customers’ personal information.
As we previously reported and discussed, in October 2014 the FCC initiated its first data security case against TerraCom, Inc. and
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In the wake of recent, large-scale data breaches, one being the breach at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) affecting millions of federal employees, a number of bills have been battling their way through Congress to address breach notification and data security requirements at the federal level. There has been an ongoing pattern for years…
Following a string of states across the country that have strengthened their data breach notification laws in recent months, Connecticut is about to amend its law to require, among other things, that businesses provide one year of identity-theft protection for persons affected by the breach. Many businesses already extend such services to breach victims, but,…
As discussed in an earlier post, shortly after the United States Postal Service reported a data breach potentially affecting hundreds of thousands of employees, the American Postal Workers Union filed an unfair labor practice with the National Labor Relations Board alleging the Postal Service should have bargained with the union over the impact and…
Alabama recently introduced a bill (S.B. 106) which would require notification in the event of a breach affecting the personal information of an Alabama resident. While 47 states currently have laws requiring breach notification — most recently joined by Kentucky — New Mexico, South Dakota, and Alabama are the only states that do…
On March 25, 2015, the United States House of Representative, Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade approved draft legislation which would replace state data breach notification laws with a national standard. This draft legislation comes on the heels of the President’s call for a national data breach notification law. The proposed…
With breaches caused by payment card thieves and hackers dominating the news, it is easy for mid-sized and small companies to think that data breaches are unfortunate events that affect only large companies. Not only is this sentiment misguided, but in relative terms the information contained in exposed emails can cause far more damage to …
Reacting to a report that identity theft was a top concern for Illinois residents (second in a list of ten), Attorney General Lisa Madigan announced a legislative proposal to strengthen the state’s existing data breach notification law. The call for stronger breach notification laws is a trend that has emerged in other states, such as…
Late last year we reported Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller was seeking legislation which would better protect the online personal and financial information of Indiana residents. That legislation, S.B. 413, was unanimously passed by the Indiana Senate on February 24, 2015. Indiana’s bill follows similar efforts in New Jersey, New York and Oregon.…
The first massive data breach of 2015 hit one of the country’s largest insurance issuers, Anthem, Inc., including Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield and other related entities (Anthem). The incident reportedly affected over 80 million persons who are or were covered under a policy or program insured or serviced by Anthem. The personal note…
