Feb 18, 2013
U.S. Supreme Court takes pass on CFAA lawsuit; uncertainty remains
In 1st Circuit, ‘ball in employer’s court’
By Correy E. Stephenson More
The U.S. Supreme Court’s denial of certiorari in a Computer Fraud and Abuse Act case leaves employment lawyers in the 1st Circuit and beyond with continuing uncertainty.Employers frequently add a CFAA claim to suits against former employees that take confidential information from company computer systems.…
Merchants who accept credit cards have a duty to protect customer information, not only by law (see, e.g., 201 CMR 17.00), but also because the credit card companies tell them so. The Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council was created by Visa, MasterCard and American Express to tell merchants precisely what they are supposed to do to protect consumers. Merchants must follow the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) or risk fines or losing the ability to process credit cards. … More
On February 12, 2013, President Obama signed an executive order entitled “Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity.” The Order has two key components.
First, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Director of National Intelligence must ensure timely production of unclassified reports of cyber threats and must rapidly disseminate the reports to the targeted entities.
Second, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (“NIST”),… More
Yesterday President Obama signed an executive order directing federal agencies to develop voluntary best cyber security practices for key industry sectors and to create a system for broader public-private information sharing, and today administration officials have been speaking at an event highlighting the order. The Order places primary responsibility for managing cyber security in the hands of the Department of Homeland Security. Under the Order, the government will also be identifying baseline data and systems requirements for the government to allow the exchange of information and intelligence,… More