Monthly Archives: February 2022

Blog contributor Leah Rizkallah recently wrote an article for CPO Magazine, available here, about how cybersecurity is a critical risk-area for companies across industries and boards of directors must be vigilant in overseeing their companies’ cybersecurity efforts. More

The Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (“CISA”) has just released CISA Insights: Preparing for and Mitigating Foreign Influence Operations Targeting Critical Infrastructure, which provides proactive steps organizations can take to assess and mitigate risks from information manipulation. Malicious actors (i.e., Russia) may use tactics—such as misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation—to shape public opinion, undermine trust, and amplify division, which can lead to impacts to critical functions and services across multiple sectors. … More

Since Massachusetts becoming a trailblazer among states with the passage of privacy legislation in 2007 and subsequent regulations, Massachusetts’ own privacy laws have been passed by those of other states, most notably California.  The proposed Massachusetts Information Privacy and Security Act (“MIPSA”) would bring Massachusetts back to the forefront of state regulation of privacy and data security.

The 65 page long bill would,… More

Earlier this week, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the establishment of the Cyber Safety Review Board (CSRB), as directed in President Biden’s Executive Order 14028 on Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity. The CSRB is a public-private initiative that will bring together government and industry leaders to elevate U.S. cybersecurity.

The CSRB will review and assess significant cybersecurity events, so that government,… More

Continued Threats of Ransomware Attacks

As we reported in our 2021 Year in Preview series, we began 2021 anticipating that ransomware would be a serious threat to critical energy infrastructure.  These concerns were realized in May 2021 when the Colonial Pipeline Company’s (“Colonial”) entire 5,500-mile pipeline system carrying liquid fuels was shut down due to a ransomware attack by DarkSide, a hacking group that allegedly has loose ties to the Russian government.… More

As we think about what 2022 may hold with regard to privacy and data security regulation by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), we should first look back at some of the developments from last year that set the stage for this year. Just like 2021, it appears that the regulatory culture at the FTC this year will be heavily entangled with the political environment. Recent events suggest that while privacy and data security related reforms previously enjoyed bipartisan support,… More