Governor Charlie Baker

The Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General has created a new Data Privacy and Security Division. This Division is charged with protecting consumers from the threats to the privacy and security of their data. The Attorney General, Maura Healey, announced “The Data Privacy and Security Division will build on our office’s commitment to empowering Massachusetts

State and local governments have increasingly become targets of cybersecurity attacks. This year cybersecurity attacks on Baltimore and Lincoln County, North Carolina reportedly will cost those government entities $18.2 million and as much as $400,000, respectively to recover from the attacks. Last year, Atlanta spent more than $7 million to recover from a ransomware attack.

UPDATE: The changes to the Massachusetts data breach notification law described below are now in effect. Thus, if you have discovered a data incident involving the personal information of Massachusetts residents you will want to review these changes carefully – they are significant and the Commonwealth is intent on educating the public about them. Because