President Biden recently signed a National Security Memorandum on cybersecurity. This memorandum was required by an earlier executive order, which we previously have discussed here.  The new memorandum (NSM) requires certain network cybersecurity measures for any government information system that is used for highly sensitive national security purposes. The requirements go into effect on a rolling basis over the next 6 months.
Continue Reading White House Focuses on Improving the Cybersecurity of National Security Systems

There were new developments regarding the Sabre cyber breach this past week, as the travel industry and the public are learning more about its scope and scale.

To recap, in early May, Sabre, Inc., which provides electronic travel booking services, disclosed that it was investigating “an incident of unauthorized access to payment information contained in a subset of hotel reservations processed through [its] Hospitality Solutions SynXis Central Reservations system.” That system serves 32,000 properties. Sabre stated that it had shut off the unauthorized access and had engaged a security forensics firm to investigate.
Continue Reading Sabre Cyber Breach: New Developments

Last Thursday, in a vote split along party lines, the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) approved a new regulatory regime staking its claim to privacy regulation of both fixed and mobile Internet service providers (“ISPs”) like Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T.  The FCC’s rules follow its decision in the Open Internet Order, released last year and analyzed here, to classify broadband Internet access service as a common-carrier telecommunications service.  The FCC’s new rules are intended to give consumers control over the ways in which ISPs use and share their customers’ private information.  While the FCC has yet to release its Report and Order, the FCC’s Fact Sheet and statements by the commissioners indicate that the new privacy rules in many respects track the proposed rules the FCC put forward earlier this year, which seek to make the FCC the “toughest” privacy regulator in the Internet ecosystem by imposing on ISPs significantly more onerous and restrictive requirements for use and collection of consumer data than the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) imposes on its non-ISP competitors.
Continue Reading FCC Issues New Privacy Rules for Internet Service Providers: Safeguarding Consumers or Lulling Them Into A False Sense of Privacy?