In April of this year, which seems far longer than eight months ago, we posted about an alert from federal agencies warning that cyber threat actors were exploiting the coronavirus pandemic to fuel phishing and other attacks. Those efforts have continued throughout the year with attackers now retooling their messaging around the COVID-19 vaccine. Criminal … Continue Reading
In the US, many organizations anxiously awaiting assistance under the CARES Act are becoming the targets of cyberattackers looking to feed off of the massive relief being provided by the US treasury. Yesterday, the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the United Kingdom’s National Cyber Security Centre … 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
Human Resources (“HR”) and information technology (“IT”) departments play unique and important roles within an organization. With instances of data breaches on the rise, however, companies should be mindful of the importance of regular communication and collaboration between employees in these departments with respect to issues of data security. Addressing such issues should not be … Continue Reading
News reports of security risks, hackings and breaches caused by individuals, terror groups or even countries around the world certainly are important and can be unsettling. But, for many organizations, including healthcare providers and business associates, a significant and perhaps more immediate area of data risk rests with an organization’s workforce members. An organization’s information … Continue Reading
Have you hired a social media manager? A social media guru/wizard/ninja/diva? Each of these job "titles" are increasingly being used by companies to attract individuals who specialize in marketing a company’s brand and/or services in social media. A recent article in the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times highlights just how prevalent these job titles are … Continue Reading
A proposed regulation would require federal contractors to conduct privacy training on at least 7 key areas before being given access to government records or handling personally identifiable information. Failing to provide the training potentially would put a halt to the contractor's government work.… Continue Reading
Today, Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal announced his office will investigate a data breach that occurred in late August that affected approximately 18,817 Connecticut health care professionals. The American Medical Association reported earlier that this breach involved the personal information, including Social Security numbers, of an estimated 850,000 physicians nationwide. What is most troubling about this … Continue Reading
The Washington Post is reporting another inadvertent disclosure of sensitive information involving “peer-to-peer” or “P2P” technology. This time, the disclosure exposed a House Ethics Committee document outlining ongoing ethics investigations for an uncomfortably large number of House members. The same technology raises serious issues for employers. According to the Washington Post, the now-terminated, junior committee staff member … Continue Reading
