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Kari M. Rollins is a partner in the Intellectual Property Practice Group and Office Managing Partner of the New York office.

Maryland recently passed two companion bills amending the state’s Personal Information Protection Act. The bills modify the data breach notification requirements and scope of businesses subject to the data security requirements. The key changes are summarized below, and will go into effect October 1 of this year:Continue Reading Maryland Amends Data Security and Breach Notice Obligations

The SEC’s enforcement action with a leading seller of market data (App Annie Inc.) signals its concern with misleading data use representations. While the data at issue was not “personally identifiable” information, but instead corporate confidential information, the SEC’s concerns mirrored those that we have previously seen from that agency, as well as others, regarding representations made about personal information.
Continue Reading Implications of SEC’s Scrutiny of Data Use Representations

The SEC recently announced a settlement with Pearson plc where the company has agreed to pay $1 million to settle charges that it misled investors about a 2018 cyber incident. According to the order, Pearson made misleading statements and omissions about a 2018 data breach involving the theft of student data and administrator credentials in its July 2019 semi-annual report.
Continue Reading SEC Fine Highlights Importance of Cybersecurity Disclosures

The FTC recently voted to authorize the use of compulsory processes—the FTC’s primary investigatory tools—on what it calls “key law enforcement priorities.” The resolutions allow investigators to take actions like issuing subpoenas and civil investigations demands (commonly referred to as “CIDs”) in a variety of areas. Of note is the inclusion of both healthcare markets and technology platforms, signaling a potential FTC interest in those sectors.
Continue Reading FTC Signals Focus on Healthcare and Technology Platforms, Among Others

The New York State Department of Financial Services recently announced new guidance addressing ransomware attacks, and highlighting cybersecurity measures to significantly reduce the risk of an attack.  The guidance comes as ransomware rates have been increasing, and builds on the post SolarWinds guidance from NYDFS about supply chain management. It was released just prior to the most recent large attack, namely the July 2nd supply-chain ransomware attack centered on the U.S. information technology firm Kaseya.
Continue Reading NYDFS Issues Ransomware Guidance

New York City recently enacted a biometric ordinance that is set to come into effect July 9, 2021. With this ordinance, NYC joins other cities (like Portland) in regulating the use of biometric information. The ordinance may impact retailers, restaurants, and entertainment venues in the city that use security cameras with facial-recognition technology or otherwise collect biometric identifiers from their customers.
Continue Reading New York City Biometric Ordinance Effective July 9, Are You Ready?

The Supreme Court’s recent decision in Van Buren addressed the meaning of the term “exceeds authorized access” under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). The Court held, in a criminal case that alleged that the person used information for an improper purpose, that the law’s definition of this term does not include situations when people have improper motives for obtaining computerized information they are otherwise authorized to access.
Continue Reading The Impact of the Narrowed Scope of CFAA Liability in the Privacy and Security Realm

NYDFS Issues Supply Chain Management Guidance

The New York State Department of Financial Services recently issued recommendations to financial institutions in the aftermath of the SolarWinds cyberattack. In that attack, hackers inserted malware into SolarWinds software which was then distributed to SolarWinds’ customers (many of which were financial institutions). After discovery, SolarWinds released a series of hot fixes to address vulnerabilities in their software associated with the attack. Although NYDFS found that most companies responded quickly to patch the vulnerabilities, it did identify additional steps to reduce supply chain risk:
Continue Reading NYDFS Issues Supply Chain Management Guidance