Category Archives: Data Breach

On December 1, 2022, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued a bulletin to highlight the obligations of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) on covered entities and business associates under the HIPAA Privacy, Security, and Breach Notification Rules (“HIPAA Rules”) when using online tracking technologies.  These online tracking technologies, like Google Analytics or Meta Pixel,… More

Every October, in recognition of National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, the federal government and its partners work to educate stakeholders on cybersecurity awareness and how best to protect the privacy and security of confidential data. Within the health care industry, the HIPAA Security Rule applies to covered entities and their business associates (“regulated entities”) and electronic protected health information (ePHI).  Because ePHI identifies individuals and includes information relating to an individual’s health,… More

According to the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (“CISA“), the potential hostilities between Russia and Ukraine are likely to spill over into cyber warfare.  In this month’s CISA Insights:

Every organization in the United States is at risk from cyber threats that can disrupt essential services and potentially result in impacts to public safety. Over the past year, cyber incidents have impacted many companies,… More

Ransomware payments continue to be a focus of the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”). As previously reported by Foley Hoag, on October 1, 2020, OFAC released an advisory regarding potential sanctions risks related to facilitating ransomware payments. Almost a year later, on September 21, 2021, OFAC updated its advisory to provide additional guidance regarding what OFAC considers to be mitigating factors if facilitating a ransomware payment results in an apparent violation of U.S.… More

On June 10, 2021, China adopted a new Data Security Law that will impact every business operating in or doing business with China. The law, which will take effect in less than a month (September 1, 2021), is sweeping in scope, imposes extensive data processing obligations, and establishes potentially severe penalties for violations. Although many of the details surrounding implementation remain unclear, given the law’s extensive requirements and severe penalties for noncompliance,… More

You may have forgotten that there is a federal criminal identity theft statute, 18 U.S.C. § 1028A, which says:

Whoever, during and in relation to any felony violation enumerated in subsection (c), knowingly transfers, possesses, or uses, without lawful authority, a means of identification of another person shall, in addition to the punishment provided for such felony, be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 2 years.

Section 1028A is not frequently invoked,… More

On October 28, 2020, a joint cybersecurity advisory was coauthored by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). This advisory describes the tactics, techniques, and procedures used by cybercriminals against targets in the healthcare and public health sectors to infect their systems with Ryuk ransomware for financial gain.

CISA,… More

What do businesses need to do to comply with privacy and data security laws?  The first place to look is to relevant statutes.  If you store or process the personal information of Massachusetts residents, then you will at least be subject to the Massachusetts Data Breach Notification Statute and related security regulations.  These are important guides that require certain operational activities, such as maintaining a written information security program,… More

Businesses scrambling to move their workforces into remote environments are rightly concerned about the smooth and productive flow of information, including question about whether there will be any government support for building out a remote infrastructure, and what limitations are there on the kinds of information employers may obtain or share to minimize the health impacts on their employees (both questions, among many others, that Foley Hoag’s COVID-19 Task Force was built to help answer). … More

Malicious cyber actors have been exploiting the COVID-19 crisis, warn the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) in a joint release issued April 8. Bad actors have done so in two main ways: first, by grafting COVID-19-related themes onto standard cyberattack practices; second, by exploiting vulnerabilities in services that have seen increased use since the pandemic began.… More

InfoTrax Systems, a Utah-based technology company, has agreed to implement a comprehensive data security program to settle Federal Trade Commission allegations that the company failed to put in place reasonable security safeguards, which allowed a hacker to access the personal information of a million consumers.  InfoTrax Systems, L.C., provides back-end operation services to multi-level marketers. This includes such services as compensation, inventory, orders, accounting, training,… More

As data breaches are seemingly reported on a daily basis, cybersecurity has emerged as a top enforcement priority for federal and state regulators and a key concern for companies of all sizes in a diverse range of industries. For example, compliance with federal cybersecurity regulations is required by nearly every government contract and the New York Division of Financial Services adopted a vast set of regulations that is applicable to all entities operating under NYDFS licensure.… More

A recent report from the Mass Digital Health Council includes a cybersecurity toolkit created by MDHC’s Cybersecurity Group of Experts (CGE). The toolkit will enable faster clinical adoption of new digital health products, software and solutions by enhancing access to security needs and requirements and will address:

• Cybersecurity needs for digital health companies
• Medical device and software solutions
• Best practices
• Available state and national resources and tools

This toolkit should enable healthcare organizations to share experiences and guidance with each other,… More

Attorneys Colin Zick and Chris Hart recently led a Q&A discussion for MassTLC members on new trends in data privacy. Click here to download the slides. Topics included: recent GDPR enforcement actions, the California Consumer Privacy Act, recent changes to the Massachusetts data breach statute and more. More

New Trends in Data Privacy: GDPR, CCPA and Beyond

Changes to data privacy laws and regulations continue to happen at a rapid clip. Join Foley Hoag’s Colin Zick and Chris Hart for a question and answer discussion about recent GDPR enforcement actions, the latest status on the California Consumer Privacy Act, recent changes to the Massachusetts data breach statute, and what other changes are in store nationally and internationally in the world of privacy and data security.… More

Partner Colin Zick will speak at the “A Day at the Breach: Cybersecurity and Privacy for Your Business” event in Boston on August 14, 2019.

Description

Inadequate Cybersecurity processes can bring business operations to a halt, and cost thousands of dollars in litigation and lost revenue. This networking program will feature an expert panel discussion on recent trends in Cybersecurity and Privacy issues and best practices.… More

In early June, the Cyberspace Administration of China released for public comment new draft regulations applicable to the collection of personal information relating to children under 14 by online service providers.

The draft regulations share many of the same structures as those utilized by the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”) in the United States:

• online service operators will have to obtain parental consent based on a comprehensive disclosure about the collection,…

More

A new Massachusetts law toughens reporting requirements for companies and organizations hit by data security breaches and mandates requires free credit monitoring to affected consumers. Partner Colin Zick and counsel Chris Hart recently presented a webinar for Associated Industries of Massachusetts (AIM) that provides a big picture of the data privacy legal landscape, discusses real-world impacts of the new provisions and offers guidance on other upcoming changes such as the GDPR and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).… More

The California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”) has been lauded as a “huge step forward” that could set a standard for other states and the federal government that enact increasingly robust data privacy legislation.  Indeed, some federal lawmakers view the law so favorably that they do not want future federal legislation to replace it. In the words of Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) to Politico: “California’s bill is the best.… More

In a Notification of Enforcement Discretion Regarding HIPAA Civil Money Penalties issued on April 23, 2019, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) exercised “its discretion in how it applies HHS regulations concerning the assessment of Civil Money Penalties (CMPs) under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), as such provision was amended by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act” to reduce the maximum annual fines it will impose for HIPAA violations.… More

Imagine this scenario:  you’ve had a productive and mutually advantageous ongoing contractual relationship of several years with another party.  You have built up quite a bit of trust over the years, and communicate regularly over email.  Your email communications include you receiving invoices and then confirming payment; your email messages might include a note about an upcoming shipment or provision of services, or even a note wishing the family well.… More

You probably are employed by an organization that has a website privacy policy. I am. That’s because most organizations process personal information through their websites in some way, such as through online forms that ask you to sign up for newsletters or marketing promotions.

What if your organization doesn’t process any personal information through its website? What if you run a B2B startup and just have an informational website that tells the public about what you do,… More

Data breaches have become an all-consuming topic of late. Stories about data theft dominate political headlines, boardroom discussions and family meetings around the dinner table. They, of course, have also been the subject of government investigations and private litigation.

The current environment is not unlike other moments in the recent past that seem to have captured the attention of Wall Street, K Street and Main Street, including the financial reporting scandals of the early 2000s.… More

Every company should expect that at some point it will experience a data breach. Whether as a result of hackers, disgruntled employees, or careless acts such as losing an unencrypted phone or laptop, data breaches may subject companies to liability and must be handled with speed and great care. What are the responsibilities of directors in preventing and addressing data breaches?

Without a doubt, directors must be generally aware of the data security risks facing the company and ensure that the company is prepared to manage those risks appropriately and has an incident response plan for a data breach.… More

Taking stock of the current privacy and security environment is critical. The legal world around data privacy continues to shift and the technical challenges to solving data security needs continue to increase in complexity.

Join Foley Hoag’s Chris Hart and Rapid7’s Jeremiah Dewey for a conversation about understanding and meeting today’s data privacy and security challenges. They will discuss the following:

• What does the current threat environment look like?…

More

Start-up companies know that, when potential investors kick the tires, they will look carefully at the company’s business model and IP portfolio.  These days, investors are also likely to look at whether the company is in compliance with privacy and data security laws.  Cybersecurity has become increasingly important for business of all sizes.  While identity thieves may focus on the target rich environments of large-scale enterprises,… More

Data breaches – always critically important to those with responsibility for storing, transporting and protecting electronic information – have become an all-consuming topic of late. Stories about data theft dominate political headlines, boardroom discussions, and family meetings around the dinner table.  They, of course, have also been the subject of government investigations and private litigation.

The current environment is not unlike other moments in our recent past that seemed to have captured the attention of Wall Street,… More

On January 10, 2019, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker signed a new law that amends its data breach reporting law, and requires credit reporting agencies such as Equifax to provide a free credit freeze to consumers.  The new law, “An Act Relative to Consumer Protection from Security Breaches,” also requires companies to offer up to three years of free credit monitoring to victims of a security breach,… More

The concept that one is known by the company one keeps dates back to ancient times (the particular phrase is attributed to both Aesop and the Book of Proverbs).  But this simple aphorism continues to be true.  A recent example is the $500,000 that Advanced Care Hospitalists (ACH) had to pay to the Office for Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (OCR) to settle potential violations of the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules.… More

Article by James Swann

A recent hack of Obamacare enrollment records might result in a full-blown privacy investigation of the government agency that is responsible for the federal health-care exchange and serve as a wake-up call to the government.

The aftermath of the breach may be even more troubling than the breach itself, Colin Zick, with Foley Hoag in Boston, told Bloomberg Law.… More

In a recent trip to Ireland, I was surprised to see two subjects that Ireland is known for — GDPR and rugby — coming into conflict.   As reported in the Sunday Business Post, World Rugby was lobbying the Irish government to create new data protection laws to address the interaction of anti-doping testing and the laws regarding transfer of data among and between different countries.  … More

On September 23, 2018, California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law SB-1121, a bill that makes several amendments to the Golden State’s landmark Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”). California enacted the CCPA in June after legislators reached a last-minute compromise with a group of privacy activists who would have put a more stringent data protection measure on the November ballot. Given the hasty enactment of the law,… More

The California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (the “CCPA”) was signed into law on June 28, 2018. Although it is a state law, it has national and international ramifications. Here are some key aspects to be aware of.

1. Effective date

The law is slated to go into effect on January 1, 2020. However, the California State Legislature has the option of offering amendments to alter the law between now and its effective date,… More

With legislative activity last month in Louisiana, South Carolina, Vermont, and Colorado adding to activity in South Dakota, Arizona, Oregon, and Alabama earlier in the year, it appears that 2018 could be a significant year for state information privacy law reform. Much has been predicted in this area following the enactment in 2017 of significant regulations in New York and the passage of substantial amendments to a statute in Illinois both of which were aimed at protecting against data breaches.… More

The Washington Post recently reported that the Chinese Ministry of State Security stole a trove of sensitive defense information from a U.S. Navy contractor working for the Naval Undersea Warfare Center.  According to the Post, the information included plans to develop a supersonic anti-ship missile for U.S. submarines, along with “signals and sensor data, submarine radio room information relating to cryptographic systems, and Navy submarine development unit’s electronic warfare library.”

It is no secret that the Chinese government has been building its capacity to project military power in the Pacific ocean for many years,… More

As noted in the FTC alert below from Lisa Weintraub Schifferle, an attorney with the FTC’s Division of Consumer & Business Education, thanks to a new federal law, soon you can get free credit freezes and year-long fraud alerts. Here’s what to look forward to when the law takes effect on September 21st:

Free credit freezes

• What is it? A credit freeze restricts access to your credit file,…

More

The late rapper known as The Notorious B.I.G. recorded a song called, “Mo Money, Mo Problems.”  Many of the lyrics can’t be repeated here, but the refrain can:

“It’s like the more money we come across
The more problems we see.”

This refrain came to mind yesterday as I sat in the BIO 2018 session about digital health:  A Look to the Future: Investors Corner –… More

I am attending BIO 2018 in Boston, just steps from our Boston office. Naturally, I was drawn to yesterday’s session on “Life Sciences Cyber Exposures and Risk Mitigation Considerations.” But I came away disappointed. First of all, the session was held in a small room and even then, it was only one-third full (maybe 30 people of the 16,000 attending BIO 2018 chose to attend).… More

The French National Assembly voted on May 14, 2018 to adopt changes that bring its existing Data Protection Act of 1978 in line with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Paradoxically, while France was the first EU Member State to adopt a data protection act, it is one of the latest EU countries to adapt to GDPR,… More

It’s probably not going to change anything, but the Democratic National Committee has sued Russia (and members of the Russian establishment), members of the Trump campaign, and Wikileaks regard the 2016 election security breaches.  The DNC’s complaint includes almost every claim imaginable in response to a hacking incident.  If nothing else, it’s a good model for lawyers to crib from. More

In a recent ten-page order, a federal judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California declined to dismiss a lawsuit against Facebook alleging that Facebook’s “Tag Suggestions” feature violates the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). The ruling means that the case, Patel v. Facebook, Inc., Civil Action No. 3:15-cv-03747-JD, will proceed, but the long-term impact of the ruling is less clear.… More

Attorneys Colin Zick, Catherine Muyl and Marion Cavalier recently presented a webinar for MichBio U on what the EU’s  General Data Protection Regulation means for U.S. healthcare and life science companies. Click here to download the presentation. More

There seems to be a new scientific study published every day—like this one that alleges that eating cheese every day might actually be healthy. Understandably, many of these studies fly under the radar — but two recently published reports regarding cybersecurity and health care should not. These two reports show that the healthcare industry in particular is continuing to struggle with cybersecurity issues. Understanding the vulnerabilities revealed by these studies is important to healthcare organizations attempting to reduce their cybersecurity risks and legal liabilities.… More

A lot of information has been circulating about GDPR in the last months from all kinds of sources, some more reliable than others, and you may have the feeling that you are quite knowledgeable about it. We have designed this quiz to enable you to check how knowledgeable you really are.

If you get all the answers right except for one or two, you are a true expert!… More

Partner Colin Zick was recently invited to speak to the Union College Computer Science Department’s Seminar Series. His presentation addressed the difficulties in implementing encryption in the workplace, the challenges to encryption from law enforcement, and the future of encryption in light of U.S. v. Microsoft and the coming GDPR.

Click here to download the presentation.… More

A recent Security Breach Report published by the North Carolina Attorney General’s Office provides a snapshot of the various data security threats currently riling the state’s public and private sectors.  Since 2006, the year North Carolina businesses and government entities became statutorily obligated to report breaches to the Attorney General’s Office, reported data breaches have skyrocketed from 86 to over one thousand.  In turn,… More

In the European Union (“EU”), “everyone has the right to the protection of personal data concerning him or her” under the Charter of Fundamental Rights. Intellectual property is also protected as a fundamental right under the Charter, as is freedom of speech. These rights can sometimes conflict. In two previous posts on cases about linking to Playboy pictures and the inspiration for Jeff Koons’ sculptures,… More

Reproduced with permission from Bloomberg Law: Privacy & Data Security, (Jan. 18, 2018). Copyright 2018 by The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. (800-372-1033) http://www.bna.com

By James Swann

The federal government has identified two new cyberthreats that put patients’ personal data at risk for exposure.

The threats, known as Spectre and Meltdown, exploit a vulnerability in many commercial computer chips underpinning health-care computer networks,… More

The worldwide WannaCry attack from May 2017 has been officially blamed on North Korea.  In a press briefing publicly announcing the Administration’s declaration of North Korean culpability, the Department of Homeland Security continued to note the importance of public-private partnership in cyberdefense.  While such collaboration (and desire for collaboration) is not new, the press briefing did appear to call for a newfound emphasis on the need for the government to work together with private companies. … More

This week, the Advanced Cyber Security Center (ACSC) released a new report entitled, “Cyber Security Post Equifax: Perceptions and Priorities from Massachusetts Residents.” The report highlights the results from a survey of Massachusetts residents conducted to better understand public opinion on consumer and privacy matters and cyber security related to the Internet. Click here to read in full. More

Editors’ Note:  The following is an excerpt from an article published by SearchSecurity.  To read the full article, click here.  Registration required.

A data breach is a business crisis that can have enduring ramifications. While the discovery of a breach can initiate a drill — investigating what happened, remediating the security gaps, engaging law enforcement, and complying with state and federal notification laws —… More

As you enjoy the holiday weekend, and even some Cyber Monday shopping, keep in mind these online shopping tips from the FTC:

• Know the seller and the item. Put the company or product name in a search engine, along with “review,” “complaint,” or “scam.” Read the reviews. Be sure you can contact the seller if you have a dispute.
• Avoid clicking links in emails.…

More

Interesting viewpoints from this Journal of the American Medical Association article on FDA’s August 2017 notice re: cyber security issues with certain pacemakers, including:

• “This first widespread cybersecurity advisory involving a permanent medical device implant provides some insight into the ways in which the public experience with these types of medical device malfunctions might be improved.”
• “Communications regarding widely used products for which multiple vendors exist in the marketplace should serve as opportunities to highlight current FDA and industry standards,…

More

As most are aware, the Massachusetts Attorney General has won the race to the courthouse and been the first regulator to file suit against Equifax.

• The 28 page complaint is summed up on paragraph 4:Consumers do not choose to give their private information to Equifax, and they do not have any reasonable manner of preventing Equifax from collecting, processing, using, or disclosing it. Equifax largely controls how,…

More

Privacy and data security have rocketed to the top of the list of concerns for all corporate boards. Whether you are a technology company, a biotech, or a traditional widget maker, your company has confidential information about its products, customers and employees. And that information has to be protected as a matter of law, both by statute and under contracts with your customers and suppliers.

As in-house counsel,… More

As we previously said, the Equifax breach affects approximately 143 million Americans. While the hackers stole data that includes addresses, birth dates, full names and Social Security numbers, there are steps you can take today that will protect you from an identity theft worst-case scenario.

Assume the hackers stole your data

While no one wants to be in a situation where personal information was exposed,… More

Me and 143 million of my closest friends may have had our personal information inappropriately accessed through a breach at Equifax–is there no safe haven anywhere?  Deferring that question for another day, here are the instructions from the FTC on how to check if your data is implicated.  The first time I tried, I could not access the site:

I waited an hour and went back to the site. … More

As we have noted before in this space, states have begun going through the process of amending their data breach notification laws.  California, for example, recently amended its data breach notification statute to expand the definition of personal information.  Illinois did the same, and adjusted its safe harbor provision.  And New York created first-of-its-kind financial sector cybersecurity regulations.  … More

This is the second post in a three-part series designed to provide a summary of some of the GDPR features that are likely to have the most substantial impact on healthcare/life science related businesses. (Links for Part One and Part Three) 

New General Features of the GDPR

Some of the GDPR general features may be of particular interest for companies in the healthcare/life science sectors.… More

Privacy and data security have rocketed to the top of the list of concerns for all corporate boards. Whether you are a technology company, a biotech, or a traditional widget maker, your company has confidential information about its products, customers and employees. And that information has to be protected as a matter of law, both by statute and under contracts with your customers and suppliers.… More

In the 9th Circuit’s August 15, 2017 decision in Robins v. Spokeo, the latest in the long-running legal debate about when a consumer cause of action exists for a data breach, the 9th Circuit has declared that inaccuracies in a published credit report may sometimes constitute a “concrete injury” sufficient to confer Article III standing. This is a significant win for consumer protection advocates,… More

What happens when state and local governments respond to significant data breaches?  They often turn to the private sector for breach response capabilities in order to mitigate damages.  Speed is the name of the game, and state and local governments often move with alacrity to save face.

But what about procurement laws?

The rush to hire sophisticated private entities to support data breach response efforts is in tension with statutory competitive bidding mandates. … More

Did someone steal your tax return?  You are not alone.  Indeed, the rise in tax-related identity theft has been well documented.  In 2015, the FTC reported a 50% increase in identity theft complaints.  A primary cause for that increase was the rise in tax-related identity theft.  In response to this increase, the IRS has made stopping identity theft and refund fraud a top priority.  From 2011-2014, the IRS reported that it stopped 19 million suspicious returns and protected more than $63 billion in fraudulent returns. … More

A mere month and a half after the WannaCry strain of ransomware caused major havoc in European and Asian countries, another major ransomware attack hit large institutions across Europe and the United States yesterday.  ‎Hardest hit has been Ukraine, which has seen major attacks on its government, banks, and power infrastructure.  Other European firms such as Germany’s Deutsche Bahn railways and Danish shipping firm A.P.… More

Recently, the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility issued Formal Opinion 477, which aims to provide guidance and clarity to lawyers as they consider what level of security to give communications with clients.  (I was recently interviewed by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly on this topic, and you can read the full article here; please note that the article is behind a paywall.)

The bottom line?  … More

Presented by Foley Hoag LLP and PwC

A data breach is a business crisis. What should you do?

Learn first-hand as Foley Hoag LLP and PwC walk you through the practical and legal aspects of responding to a data security incident. From understanding how to be prepared to thinking through best practices, this webinar is designed to help you get a handle on an emergency that every business must confront.… More

Plaintiffs presenting a claim in federal court must have standing to sue, under Article III of the Constitution (as we have written about in the past).  The Second Circuit recently entered an order reminding plaintiffs, defendants, and their attorneys just how difficult overcoming the standing hurdle can be for individuals suing in the wake of a data breach.

In Whalen v.… More

Editor’s Note:  Martha Coakley, Christopher Hart, and Emily Nash recently published an article in Today’s General Counsel entitled, “The Life Cycle of a Data Breach.”  Here is a snippet:

A data breach can be an existential crisis for an unprepared business, and in the best case it’s likely to be expensive and disruptive. Treat data security as an integral part of the company risk profile,… More

If you check your email this afternoon, you may see a message that someone you know is sharing something on Google Docs. You should verify that separately before opening, as there is a widespread phishing attempt going around using such an invitation. More

Legal marijuana is America’s fastest-growing industry. According to ArcView Market Research, cannabis revenue is expected to exceed $22 billion by 2020—nearly double that of the NFL. This past year, Colorado saw its sales reach over $1 billion. Here in Massachusetts, sales are expected to grow to $900 million within three years. Given the nationwide trend toward legalization (at the time of writing,… More

New Mexico is one of the few remaining states to not have a law requiring companies to notify consumers when their information is part of a data breach.  This, however, might change very soon.  Last Wednesday, the New Mexico Legislature passed House Bill 15, called the “Data Breach Notification Act,” sending the bill to Governor Susana Martinez for her signature.

Among other things, the act requires companies with personally identifiable information of New Mexico residents to use reasonable security procedures and practices to protect that information. … More

On February 16, 2017, HHS OCR announced that Memorial Healthcare Systems (MHS) had paid the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) $5.5 million to settle potential violations of HIPAA’s Privacy and Security Rules and agreed to implement a “robust” three year corrective action plan and resolution agreement.  Why did MHS pay so much?  A long-term failure to close security holes that led to identity theft and fraudulent tax returns.… More

Who should you call when you suspect, or are certain of, a data breach?  Data breaches and other cybersecurity incidents have become of a fact of life.  Yahoo! recently disclosed that data for over one billion users was compromised in 2013.  Hundreds of incidents affecting millions of records were reported in 2016 alone.  So when — not if — your company suffers a breach,… More

Written by James Swann | This article was originally published in Bloomberg BNA Health Care Daily Report

An Illinois health system has reached a $475,000 settlement over allegations it waited too long to report a data breach, the first time the government has settled over untimely breach notifications.

Presence Health uncovered a data breach on Oct. 22, 2013 affecting 836 individuals,… More

The recent hack of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the United States’ subsequent decision to impose retaliatory sanctions against Russia poses an important question:  what does international law have to say about state-sponsored cyberattacks?  Unfortunately, and perhaps unsurprisingly, the answer is, very little.  While technological innovation races ahead at warp speed, international law has lagged behind.

There are no international treaties on cyber warfare.… More

In late December, New York’s Financial Services Superintendent Maria T. Vullo announced that the New York’s Department of Financial Services’ (“DFS”) new cybersecurity regulations would not go into effect on January 1, 2017 as initially planned.  These “first-in-the-nation” cybersecurity regulations were designed to help protect consumers and the financial system from the increasingly serious threat of cyberattacks.  However, the regulations faced opposition from the financial services companies and insurers that would have been subject to them.… More

Editor’s note:  This is the sixth and last in our end-of-year series.  See our previous posts on trade secrets, state regulation and law enforcement, HIPAA compliance, emerging threats, and energy.  See you in 2017!

Fragmentation in U.S. data privacy and cybersecurity law is both peril and promise.  The peril?  Businesses must contend with uncertainty and the costs associated with pleasing many regulatory masters. … More

Editor’s note:  This is the fifth in a continuing end-of-year series.  See our previous posts on trade secrets, state regulation and law enforcement, HIPAA compliance, and emerging threats.  Our last post will focus on federal regulation and law enforcement.

In 2015, a sophisticated cyberattack hit six of Ukraine’s energy providers simultaneously, causing a blackout for hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians.  … More

Editor’s note:  This is the fourth in a continuing end-of-year series.  See our previous posts on trade secrets, state regulation and law enforcement, and HIPAA compliance.  Our last two posts will focus on the energy industry, and federal regulation and law enforcement.

In 2016, new and alarming cybersecurity threats emerged, raising concerns in government, the business world,… More

Editor’s Note:  This is the third in a continuing end-of-year series.  See our previous posts on trade secrets and state regulation and law enforcement.  Up next:  the changing threat landscape.

The year ahead promises to be a busy one for those with responsibility for HIPAA compliance, as the Office of Civil Rights (OCR), charged with enforcing HIPAA, continues to lean in to compliance initiatives and addresses new questions in the rapidly-evolving healthcare information technology environment.… More

Editor’s Note:  This is the second in a continuing end-of-year series.  Stay tuned for our next installment, discussing HIPAA compliance.

In the patchwork of state and federal law regulating the use and maintenance of personal confidential information, states play a significant role and can often be the most important regulator and law enforcement authority.  Recent events have signaled changes in how states interpret and enforce their data privacy standards —… More

Editor’s Note:  This is the first of an end-of-year series of posts examining coming trends in cybersecurity.  Posts will examine trends in state regulations, federal regulatory authority, the changing nature of the threat landscape, and HIPAA.  This post discusses a shift in concern from personal consumer information toward company trade secrets.

When it comes to the issue of data privacy and security, especially among lawyers, the discussion generally concerns personally identifiable information. … More

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security says that all employees need to know the signs of a cyber-attack, not just those who work in the IT field. This is increasingly important as more companies move business operations online. The Department stresses employees should make passwords complex, beware of phishing emails and report all suspicious activity to their company’s IT department.

Last week, attorney Chris Hart joined the Boston Business Journal’s Table of Experts program to provide insights into how to protect a company from a cyberattack,… More

Another day, another 500 million Yahoo accounts breached. Our friends at the FTC are right on top of this with guidance for individuals with Yahoo accounts.  First and foremost, change your Yahoo password.

According to Yahoo, the breached information may have included names, email addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, passwords, and security questions. Yahoo believes this information was stolen in late 2014.… More

In Case You Missed It:  The Federal Trade Commission has opened a public comment period to evaluate its Safeguards Rule (16. C.F.R. § 314.3).  Under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA), which regulates financial institutions, the FTC is empowered to promulgate regulations governing how financial institutions secure consumer information.  The Safeguards Rule, as currently in force, does not have specific “how-to” requirements, but rather broad and flexible standards that financial institutions can use as guidelines in assessing risks to the data they maintain and in developing viable security plans. … More

In Case You Missed It: Sometimes data breaches crop-up in the most unlikely of places.  Last week we learned that the vendor that handles fish and hunting licenses for the states of Idaho, Oregon, and Washington was hacked.  The breach potentially exposed the following information for those with fishing or hunting licenses in those northwest states: names, addresses, driver’s license numbers, dates of birth, and the last four digits of Social Security numbers. … More

In Case You Missed It:  In a sign of the growing importance of cyber operations in warfare, the Obama administration plans to elevate the status of the Pentagon’s Cyber Command.  The U.S. Cyber Command, or USCYBERCOM, was created on June 23, 2009.  Its stated mission is to, among other things, “conduct full spectrum military cyberspace operations” to “ensure US/Allied freedom of action in cyberspace and deny the same to our adversaries.”  Currently,… More

In Case You Missed It:  The Federal Trade Commission issued an opinion in the LabMD case, overturning an ALJ’s November 2015 decision holding that the FTC failed to meet its burden to prove that LabMD’s data security practices caused or were likely to cause substantial consumer injury.  (See this blog’s previous coverage of that decision here.)  The FTC’s complaint against the company concerned two different data privacy incidents that allegedly affected over 10,000 consumers. … More

In Case You Missed It: U.S. Major party platforms address cybersecurity.  The two major parties have released their 2016 election platforms, both of which include cybersecurity planks.  The Republican platform’s perspective of cybersecurity is an element of national security and international relations. The platform called for harsh responses to cyber-attacks against American businesses, institutions, and government, applauded the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015, and pledged to “explore the possibility of a free market for Cyber-Insurance.” The Democratic platform is largely as a continuation of President Obama’s cybersecurity policies.… More

On July 11, 2016, the HHS Office of Civil Rights (OCR) released guidance on HIPAA covered entities’ responsibilities in a ransomware attack, a type of cyber-attack that has targeted the health care sector extensively in recent months. This guidance comes in the wake of a June 20, 2016 “Dear Colleague” letter from HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell highlighting ransomware issues. The most notable of OCR’s statements is that ransomware attacks often constitute breaches subject to the HIPAA Breach Notification Rule.… More

In Case You Missed It: Court certifies class in suit against Apple. On July 15, 2016, U.S. District Judge Jon S. Tigar certified a class of users of the mobile app Path, who allege that Apple facilitated the app’s access their contacts without their knowledge.  In the same decision, Judge Tigar denied certification to a proposed class of consumers who downloaded the app, but never had their contacts uploaded. … More

This post originally appeared in Law360. Written by Allison Grande. Edited by Philip Shea and Brian Baresch

The rapid rise of the hit smartphone game “Pokemon Go” has opened the developer of the app up to heavy scrutiny from regulators and users, who may end up wielding a variety of privacy and consumer protection laws to address concerns over the type and quantity of data being collected.… More

In Case You Missed It:  The EU/US Privacy Shield is set to go into effect this Tuesday, July 13, pending a decision today by the EU’s College of Commissioners.  On Friday, July 8, the Privacy Shield agreement (entered into in February) was adopted by EU member states. EU/US data transfer has been in limbo ever since the erstwhile Safe Harbor was invalided by the European Court of Justice last year. … More

In Case You Missed It: Ruling in FTC v. Amazon Suggests a Way Forward for Companies Responding to Actions Brought by the FTC after a Data Breach.  The FTC’s recent actions in the realm of data security have been predicated on its claim of statutory authority to seek injunctive relief for the failure to maintain reasonable and appropriate data security practices.  A U.S. District Court ruling last week casts some doubt on that authority. … More

Catholic Health Care Services of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia (“CHCS”), a HIPAA business associate, has agreed to pay the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights (“OCR”) $650,000 in connection with a data breach involving the nursing homes to which it provides management and IT services.

The underlying breach occurred in February 2014 (which suggests a significant backlog at OCR in resolving open matters). … More

In Case You Missed It: Illinois strengthened its data privacy and security law, with the amendments going into effect in January 2017.  The amendments include expanding the definition of “personal information” to include a username or email address of an Illinois resident in conjunction with a password or security question answer that would permit access to an online account.  The definition is also expanded to include medical and health insurance information. … More

In Case You Missed It:  The SEC fined Morgan Stanley $1 million for a 2014 data breach.  While the FTC had declined to pursue an enforcement action, blaming the breach on technical issues rather than any actions or omissions on the part of Morgan Stanley, the SEC reached a different conclusion.  The  SEC faulted Morgan Stanley for, among other things, failing to have adequate and up-to-date cybersecurity policies and for failing to correct gaps and flaws in its security systems. … More

In Case You Missed It: US and EU officials signed on to the so-called “Privacy Umbrella” deal last week.  The agreement is designed to protect the personal data of EU citizens when it is transferred to the US for law enforcement purposes — a sort of criminal counterpart to the sturdier-sounding Privacy Shield we discussed here last Thursday.  And, like the Shield, the Umbrella has drawn its share of critics,… More

Hedge Fund Association Symposium in Boston

The Securities and Exchange Commission has reiterated that cybersecurity threats and the adoption of sufficient policies and procedures will remain a compliance and examination priority for 2016. Please join us for a discussion of the primary threats facing managers of private funds, particularly emerging managers, and practical steps that they should be taking to protect their business from cybersecurity threats.

This event is complimentary for HFA members and friends of Foley Hoag. … More

Unfortunately, health care providers are the perfect mark for theft and extortion because they have huge amounts of sensitive information and maintain such information in computer databases at risk of infiltration. On May 17, Foley Hoag presented a webinar discussing the ongoing crime sprees involving theft of patients’ identities and health information; ransomware involved in these crimes; related data security issues affecting health care providers; and how they implicate law enforcement and the criminal law aspects of HIPAA.… More

On May 11, 2016, President Obama signed the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 (“DTSA”) into law.  Previously, companies could only bring misappropriation of trade secrets claims under state law.  (Unless they were able to convince federal prosecutors to bring criminal charges under the Economic Espionage Act, which rarely ever happens.)  Now, companies have the option of pursuing a federal cause of action for misappropriation of trade secrets,… More

How Can Companies Transfer Personal Data and Remain Compliant?

The French-American Chamber of Commerce, Foley Hoag LLP and The Consulate General of France in New York are pleased to invite you to a timely panel discussion and networking event.

Date: Wednesday, May 25
Time: 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Location: Consulate General of France
934 Fifth Avenue
New York,… More

As litigators, we help clients resolve conflicts that have matured into disputes.  In the realm of cybersecurity, we defend claims brought by private parties or governmental entities against companies facing the fallout from a data breach.

In advising clients in the context of litigation, we have identified tools that are available to mitigate or prevent the types of breaches that we see in litigation.  In the area of cybersecurity,… More

Hospitals are increasingly the target of hackers, particularly in the form of “ransomware.”  What follows is a primer on ransomware and how to avoid being a target of it.

What is ransomware? 

Ransomware is a type of malware that limits users’ access to their computer systems. It functions by locking a user’s system and/or encrypting its files.… More

This article was originally published in Law360 with permission to reprint.

How much does the question of harm matter in cybersecurity law? The answer is: It depends on who is bringing the claim.

Businesses confronting data breaches can face litigation from private consumers as well as from governmental entities. Managing litigation risk varies in these contexts because of the limitations of bringing private rights of action.… More

In response to the announcement of the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield, the Article 29 Working Party issued its own statement, the key elements of which are as follows:

• The Working Party will not blindly accept the EU-US Privacy Shield.
  It welcomes the conclusion of the negotiations, but also is asking to see all documents pertaining to the new EU-US Privacy Shield by the end of February.…

More

On December 18, 2015, President Obama signed the Cybersecurity Act of 2015 (The “Act”), legislation designed to combat online threats to the federal government, state and local governments, and private entities. Within the Act are four titles, the most significant of which is Title I, the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (“CISA”) (which begins at p. 694).

CISA addresses the manner in which the federal government and non-federal entities may share information about cyber threats and the defensive measures they may take to combat those threats.… More

On January 22, 2016, I had the pleasure to present to the Massachusetts Health Information Management Association’s Winter Meeting, to discuss “Compliance Beyond HIPAA.”  The presentation slides from the program are available here, and reflect discussion of:

• recent HHS OCR guidance on “Individuals’ Right under HIPAA to Access their Health Information 45 CFR §164.524”
• a new HHS OCR FAQ on EHR incentives and their interaction with HIPAA;…

More

Today, Wyndham and the FTC settled the enforcement action brought by the FTC that had led to a significant decision by the Third Circuit in August of this year.  (Wyndham’s statement on the settlement can be found here; the FTC’s statement can be found here; my earlier analysis of the Third Circuit’s decision can be found here.)  While the details of the settlement are interesting in their own right – Wyndham will not be paying anything by way of a fine or monetary damages and is not required to admit liability,… More

The scaffolding of the FTC’s powers in the realm of cybersecurity continues to be built.  On Monday, the FTC’s Chief Administrative Law Judge D. Michael Chappell issued an initial decision in the FTC’s closely watched enforcement action against LabMD.  The case involves a 2008 incident in which a data security company (Tiversa Holding Co.) discovered a LabMD document containing personal information of 9,300 patients was available on a P2P file sharing network. … More

A timely new resource for business executives, technology professionals, and lawyers alike is the newly-published Navigating the Digital Age:  The Definitive Cybersecurity Guide for Directors and Officers from the New York Stock Exchange and Palo Alto Networks.  At 355 pages, the guide provides information from dozens of contributors from around the country and from various backgrounds. The guide explores 46 separate topics, focusing on such issues as prevention,… More

Data breaches are crisis moments that businesses must prepare for in many ways: not just in taking steps at prevention, but also mitigating losses, arranging for business continuity, complying with legal and regulatory requirements, and communicating adequately with customers. Waiting to think about such issues when a data breach occurs can increase costs (including the costs associated with the time needed to restore normal business operations) and harm a company’s reputation.… More

What makes data privacy law interesting for academics, challenging for lawyers, and frustrating for businesses is its shape-shifting structure in the face of rapidly changing technology.  The recent change in the invalidation of US-EU “safe harbor” system is a useful reminder of the differences between the way the European Union and the U.S. handle questions of data privacy:  whereas, generally speaking, in the EU data privacy standards are relatively uniform,… More

This month’s edition of the Advanced Cyber Security Center’s newletter includes my discussion of lessons to be learned from the Wyndham decision:

Historically, security was an issue reserved in a back room for the IT department, if there were even a budget and ample resources. To the public, cybersecurity meant identity theft and proceeded with business as usual with the comfort of an anti-virus protection that may have come with their computer.… More

By Martha Coakley and Jon Hurst

This entry originally ran as an op-ed in the September 25, 2015 edition of The Boston Globe.

Hardly a week goes by without a news report of a new cyberattack. As any consumer affected by fraud knows, the harm is real. The  impact on businesses, government, and other targets is also real,… More

Over one year ago, our colleague Chris Hart argued that the District of New Jersey court’s decision in FTC v. Wyndham Worldwide Corp. et. al., No. 13-1887-ES, “point[ed] to the possibility that the FTC has potentially broad power, and a far reach, to bring actions for data breaches as a general matter.” That possibility became substantially more concrete this week,… More

Data breaches are often followed by class action suits in which the affected individuals seek damages. Corporations defending against such suits have used a 2013 Supreme Court case, Clapper v. Amnesty International, 133 S. Ct. 1138 (2013), to fight off such claims. In Clapper, the Supreme Court held that, in order for a plaintiff who alleges future harm to have the necessary Article III standing to sue in federal court,… More

A key distinguishing feature of U.S. data privacy laws is their patchwork nature.  There are industry-specific data privacy laws at the federal level (think HIPAA or the GLBA), yet there are no comprehensive federal standards that governs an entity’s obligations in the event of a data breach like the EU’s Data Privacy Directive.  For data breach response, in addition to the possible application of an industry-specific law or regulation,… More

The next MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge Innovation Series event, “Building a Proactive Cyber Defense Strategy, from Tools to Tactics,” will take place tomorrow, May 27, beginning at 5:30 p.m. at the Stata Center, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge. There is a great line-up of speakers, including our own Christopher Hart. More

Last week, the Cybersecurity Unit of the Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a list of “best practices” for companies concerning preparing for and responding to cyber-attacks. The report details the lessons federal prosecutors have learned while handling cyber investigations, as well as feedback from private sector companies. Some of the key pieces of advice are:

• Identify Your “Crown Jewels”: Before creating a cyber-incident response plan,…

More

am just back from presenting at the New York Stock Exchange’s program on Cyber Risks and the Boardroom, where I presented on The Role of Cyber Insurance.  My presentation is here:  2015_04_21_The_Role_of_Cyber_Insurance_NYSE_Presentation.  It was evident from this program that the C-suite is very concerned about cyber issues, but management and their boards often lack the expertise to deal with them effectively. With specific regard to cyber insurance,… More

Concluding our three-part analysis of the White House’s first Summit on Cybersecurity and Consumer Protection, we turn to some practical advice coming out of the Summit’s afternoon session, including an address by Maria Contreras-Sweet, the administrator of the Small Business Administration (“SBA”), and a panel discussion among financial sector leaders moderated by Deputy Treasury Secretary Sarah Bloom Raskin.

Here are five takeaways for companies large and small:

1. Companies are only as secure as their most vulnerable employee.…

More

The first ever Summit on Cybersecurity and Consumer Protection was convened today at Stanford University, keynoted by President Obama.  The purpose of the summit:  to “bring[] together major stakeholders on consumer financial protection issues to discuss how all members of our financial system can work together to further protect American consumers and their financial data.”  These stakeholders, a number of public and private sector leaders,… More

With every swipe of a credit card this holiday season, consumers put their faith in the companies that process and store their information. Yet, it is no secret that data breaches are on the rise, hitting companies large and small. Massive data breaches recently struck Target and Home Depot, to just name a few, and these two breaches alone affected hundreds of millions of consumers and cost the companies hundreds of millions of dollars.… More

Last week, the HHS Office of Inspector General released a damning report on FDA’s data security:  “The objective of this review was to determine whether the FDA’s network and external Web applications were vulnerable to compromise through cyber attacks.”  In short, they were vulnerable:

Overall, FDA needed to address cyber vulnerabilities on its computer network. Although we did not obtain unauthorized access to the FDA network,… More

The highly publicized hacking of the iCloud accounts of dozens of celebrities was disclosed over Labor Day weekend and has raised larger, more serious concerns regarding the security of personal and corporate data held in the cloud.

Several explanations for how the hack was achieved have been offered, with some initial pointing the finger at potential flaws in Apple’s security system.… More

As previously discussed here, Target suffered a massive data breach at the end of last year that compromised the information of 70 million or more consumers. Within days of the announcement, class action lawsuits were filed against Target around the country, including in California, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Ohio, and Utah.… More

Last week, I co-presented with Gant Redmon of Co3 Systems to the Association of Corporation Counsel on breach response.   Here are the slides from our presentation:  “In_the_Belly_of_the_Breach_: What Every In-House Counsel Needs to Know about Data Breach Response.” More

Data breach law in the United States might have just become a lot less patchy, but a little more uncertain.  On April 7, 2014, the District Court of New Jersey decided FTC v. Wyndham Worldwide Corp., et al., No. 13-1887-ES.  This case arises out of a FTC action, brought under the deception and unfairness prongs of Section 5(a) of the FTCA (15 USC s.… More

I usually do not re-post directly from the FTC, but given the timeliness of the subject, the wide impact of the problem and the technical nature of the issue, I thought it was warranted to re-post the FTC’s guidance on Heartbleed.  Talk to your IT folks about this sooner rather than later:

By Nicole Vincent Fleming

April 11, 2014 –… More

Cybersecurity remains a hot topic for regulators, including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).  On March 26, 2014, the SEC hosted a roundtable to discuss cybersecurity and the issues and challenges it raises for market participants.  The roundtable addressed cybersecurity concerns for investment advisers, broker-dealers and public companies, and provided a forum to share information as to how they are addressing those challenges. This roundtable follows hard on the heels of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) sending targeted sweep letters in January-February 2014 to broker-dealers querying their approaches to managing cybersecurity risks.… More

Triple-S Salud Inc., a Puerto Rican health insurer, has been hit with a $6.8 million penalty from the Office of Civil Rights of the Department of Health and Human Services for a massive data breach.  Triple-S (known as ASES in Spanish) has posted a notice on its website regarding the breach. 

The penalty, which also is described in a securities filing, is based a breach involving 13,336 of Triple-S’s Dual Eligible Medicare beneficiaries. … More

On January 21, 2014, U.S. District Judge Anthony Battaglia issued a 97 page orderthat dismissed the majority of the claims in a putative class action against various Sony entities, claims relating to the 2011 hack into the computer network system that Sony used to provide online gaming and Internet connectivity through PSP handhelds and PS3 game consoles.

According to Judge Battaglia, “The fifty-one claims alleged in the FACC can be categorized into nine sub-groups: (1) negligence;… More

As previously discussed here, Target suffered a massive data breach that compromised the credit and debit cards of many of its customers.  Now that the dust has started to settle, the extent of the breach is becoming clearer.  In December, Target announced that 40 million credit and debit card numbers were stolen in this hack.  Further investigation has uncovered that hackers also obtained the “names,… More

Now that the initial media blitz about the massive Target breach has passed, it is time to look ahead at the implications:

• Legislation:  In the past, we have seen major breaches drive legislative change.  But now that most states have data security statutes, it seems unlikely that much will happen at the state level.  And action at the federal level has been long promised, but remains a distant vision.…

More

A recent article in Law360 discusses how “technical problems plaguing the Affordable Care Act’s online insurance marketplace could expose vast amounts of personal data to theft….”  I noted in that article that while these concerns were valid, they are simply expanded versions of existing exposures in payor databases:

“Will breaches and improper disclosures happen as part of the new federal and state exchanges? I wouldn’t bet against it,” said Foley Hoag LLP privacy and data security practice co-chair Colin Zick.… More

Apple’s latest iteration of the iPhone (the iPhone 5S) went on sale last Friday.  The phone contains a new feature called Touch ID, which allows iPhone owners to unlock and purchase content from Apple’s online store using a fingerprint reader housed in the iPhone’s home button.  As expected, Apple’s use of biometric authentication has raised a number of security and privacy concerns among the public. … More

In the following article from Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly (reprinted with permission), Brian Bialas comments on the latest Computer Fraud and Abuse Act case, and the resultant split in the District of Massachusett on how to interpret the CFAA: 

Ex-employees sued over computer use
Judge narrowly construes CFAA

By Eric T. Berkman

A technology company could not sue former employees for downloading proprietary information onto personal storage devices before they joined a competitor without showing that the employees had physically accessed the information through fraudulent or unlawful means,… More

            In a recent decision, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) determined that customer ZIP Codes are “personal identification information” that retailers are prohibited from collecting during credit card transactions.  With this decision, the Massachusetts high court may have set off a wave of new class-action lawsuits against retailers that collected customer ZIP Codes.  Especially vulnerable are those retailers that collected customer ZIP Codes and used them to send unwanted marketing materials or sold the ZIP Codes or information derived from them to third parties. … More

The revised HIPAA regulations were formally published today in the Federal Register.  In this form, they only take up 138 pages!

Law360 has a brief piece on the revised HIPAA rules, with the perspectives of various attorneys (including me) on the changes.  While I’m not sure I agree with the quote that “This is a paradigm shift in the privacy world,” I do agree that this is “definitely something for all businesses to pay attention to.”  Similarly,… More

On January 18, 2013, nearly four years after the passage of the HITECH Act and its amendments to HIPAA, and nearly three years after it proposed regulatory amendments, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) has finally issued major “omnibus” revisions to HIPAA’s privacy and security regulations.

In the 563 pages of the regulations and related regulatory comments,… More

The Massachusetts Attorney General announced today that the former owners of a medical billing practice and four pathology groups have agreed to collectively pay $140,000 to settle allegations that medical records and patient billing information for “tens of thousands of Massachusetts patients were improperly disposed of at a public dump.”  Under the settlements, the defendants have agreed to pay a total of $140,000 for civil penalties, attorney fees,… More

The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (“HHS OCR“) announced today that it was, for the first time, entering into a monetary HIPAA settlement for a breach involving less than 500 patients: the Hospice of North Idaho (HONI) has agreed to pay HHS OCR $50,000 to settle potential HIPAA security rule violations.

HHS OCR began its investigation after HONI reported to it that an unencrypted laptop computer containing the electronic protected health information (“ePHI”) of 441 patients had been stolen in June 2010.… More

It was a pleasure to be on a panel with members of the Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General last week at the Massachusetts Medical Society to talk about how physicians can protect health information in our presentation entitled:  “Protecting Health Information: Health Data Security Training.”   We covered the latest in federal law (HIPAA, HITECH) and Massachusetts law. More

Late yesterday, the HHS Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) announced that it had reached a $1.5 million settlement with Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and Massachusetts Eye and Ear Associates, Inc. (“MEEI“) to settle potential HIPAA Security violations.  As part of the settlement, MEEI also agreed to a Corrective Action Plan to improve policies and procedures to safeguard the privacy and security of its patients’… More

There’s a fascinating, and deeply troubling, report on NPR today about the FAA’s new air traffic control system:

The new system is called the Next Generation Air Transportation System, or NextGen. It will be highly automated. It will rely on GPS instead of radar to locate planes, and it is designed to allow air traffic controllers and pilots to pack more planes,… More

A recent story in the Wall Street Journal discusses how small businesses can push back against banks which do not provide sufficient security for their bank accounts. The article focused on the recent First Circuit decision, Patco Construction Co. v. People’s United Bank, involving a bank account that had been drained by multiple fraudulent transactions. As described by the court in its opinion:

Over seven days in May 2009,… More

You may have missed it, because it came without fanfare and does not seem to have made the data security trade press, but in early May, the State of Vermont updated its data security law. In particular, these revisions to 9 V.S.A. chapter 62 do the following:

1. change the information protected to “personally identifiable information” (it was formerly “personal information”);
2. exclude from the definition of “security breach” …

More

On May 16, Deputy Undersecretary for Cybersecurity, Mark Weatherford, spoke to the Advanced Cyber Security Center about DHS’s cyber security priorities: Information Sharing, R&D, and the Advanced Persistent Threat.

On Information Sharing:  This is a continuing challenge, in part because of the way the federal government shares information.  At present, the federal government provides cyber threat information to private sector organizations,… More

Interesting article from Of Counsel regarding both the substance and the business of data privacy and security law.  Lawyers from several firms (including me) talk about current and pending legislation, the mechanisms of compliance and breach response, and the pipeline for new lawyers in the field of data security and privacy. 

One of the other attorneys discussed the shortage of trained attorneys in this area as follows:

You’d think,… More

An aptly-timed article from Mass High Tech Business News noted earlier today that: “Data Breaches [Are] a Growing Problem in Health Care.”  This article focused on a recent breach at Boston Children’s Hospital involving the records of 2,000 patients.

The article was prescient, as this afternoon, the Massachusetts Attorney General announced a $750,000 settlement with suburban Boston’s South Shore Hospital, relating to a 2010 data breach.… More

The Massachusetts Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation has issued its first annual report on data breaches. Since Massachusetts has one of the more strict state laws on data security and breach reporting, this report bears close attention for trends across the nation. Some of the highlights in this summary, which covers 2007-2011:

• Through September 30, 2011, the largest share of breaches was not in the financial sector,…

More

In an article that repeats a common theme in this space, this week’s Economist talks about how researchers are trying to help ordinary people toughen up their passwords.  But despite the efforts of these researchers, the article’s conclusion is a gloomy one:

The upshot is that there is probably no right answer. All security is irritating (ask anyone who flies regularly), and there is a constant tension between people’s desire to be safe and their desire for things to be simple.… More

Ponemon “data breach” cost

The trend toward increasingly large health information breach settlements has continued with yesterday’s announcement thatBlue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee (BCBST) has agreed to pay the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) $1,500,000 to settle potential violations of HIPAA’s Privacy and Security Rules, HHS’s Office of Civil Rights. BCBST also agreed to a corrective action plan to address gaps in its HIPAA compliance program.… More

Recent press reports of massive Chinese-sponsored hacking at the one-time telecom giant Nortel might cause you to throw up your hands and say, what chance do I have against such forces?  A closer look suggests that there is much that can be done, and should be done, both in IT security and in the sale and acquisition of assets.

Apparently Nortel found and investigated the breach in question,… More

An Atlanta, Georgia man was sentenced earlier this month to one year and one month in prison for intentionally accessing a computer of a competing medical practice, and taking personal information of the patients.  The individual made this improper access in order to send marketing materials to patients at the other practice.

The individual worked as an information technology specialist for a perinatal medical practice in Atlanta.  He separated from employment from the first practice and joined a competing perinatal medical practice, located in the same building.  He then used his home computer to hack into his former employer’s patient database. … More

My overview of some of the major issues involved in signing a cloud computing agreement can be found in searchcloudcomputing, "Performing Due Diligence Before Signing a Cloud SLA."

                                                                     *  *  *

No one is certain of all the legal risks associated with enterprises storing confidential or proprietary information outside the corporate firewall — in the cloud. However, there is growing consensus about what companies should ask cloud vendors to maintain a secure IT environment and avoid potential legal risks associated with the cloud. … More

In an article in today’s New York Times, we get some real-life insight into the difficulties in responding to a data breach.  Even simple questions, like whether or not to report the breach and who is responsible for reporting it, take on unforeseen complexity.

The particular breach in question happened at the Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative, when an employee’s car was broken into and a company laptop stolen. … More

At most restaurants, when the time comes to pay the check, you hand over your credit card and a waiter you’ve known for only about an hour takes off with your credit card. You trust that the waiter will only charge your meal and won’t make off with your card number.  But if you ever have been to a Legal Sea Foods restaurant, you will notice that the waiter brings a handheld electronic device to your table to swipe your credit card when you are ready to pay the bill. … More

Interesting findings in the Unisys Security Index for the United States regarding what Americans say they would do in the event that they learned of a security breach suffered by an organization with which they were dealing:

• Change passwords on that organization’s website and other sites (87%)
• Stop dealing with that organization entirely (76%)
• Publicly expose the issue (65%)
• Take legal action (53%)
• Continue dealing with the organization but not online (31%)

Thanks to Ted Julian of Co3 Systems for bringing this report to my attention.… More

There is an interesting article in this week’s Boston Business Journal on venture capital in the data security space: "Securing profits: Venture capitalists betting online security will be big money-maker." More

Late last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit ruled that victims of a data breach could pursue compensation from the merchant whose systems were breached for their costs of credit card replacement and identify theft insurance, under theories of breach of implied contract and negligence. See Anderson v. Hannaford Brothers Co., — F.3d —, 2011 WL 5007175 (1st Cir. Oct. 20, 2011).

As alleged by the plaintiffs in their class-action complaint,… More

It was revealed recently that Sony’s on-line services were the subject of another significant attack. This incident, however, did not exploit a vulnerability in Sony’s security infrastructure so much as it highlighted the cascading effect of data breaches.

Rather than try to scale any fences or jimmy any windows, this attack used account holders’ own keys to open the front door. According to a statement by Sony,… More

Please join me and my friends at Co3 Systems for a free webinar,”Data Breaches & Compliance:  Understanding The Law and How You Can Prepare” to be held on Thursday, October 20, 2011 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. EDT. To add this webinar and the call-in information to your Outlook calendar, click here.  I will be presenting with Ted Julian of Co3; Ted brings a wealth of experience from working at Arbor Networks,… More

As noted in MassHighTech, the Advanced Cyber Security Center was officially launched on September 20.  The program was opened by Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and featured a presentation from Attorney General Martha Coakley.  As described by MassHighTech:

Touted as a first of its kind collaborative effort that brings together stakeholders in cyber security from the government,… More

The latest legislator to enter into the federal data security and privacy sweepstakes is Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) who introduced legislation, S. 1535, on September 8.  This bill, if passed, would require companies dealing with consumers to strengthen their data security and privacy policies.  In particular, Senator Blumenthal’s bill, “The Personal Data Protection and Breach Accountability Act,” would required businesses that collect the personal information of over 10,000 customers to employ specific privacy and security measures,… More

I just completed a webinar for the Association of Corporate Counsel, with Ed Palmieri of Facebook, discussing "What Every In-House Counsel Needs to Know About Data Security and Privacy."  The program slides can be found at this link. More

A recent Massachusetts case shows that even prisoners have a right to privacy in their medical records. In this case, Alexander v. Clark, Suffolk Superior Court, Civil Action No. 0905456-H 28 Mass. L. Rptr. No. 14, 291 (May 30, 2011), the court sided with the claim of a prisoner that her health information had been wrongfully disclosed. In particular, the prisoner, Christine Alexander, sued several correction officials because those officials had sent documents regarding her “request for Propecia for hair loss”… More

The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse has created in an interesting tool, a "Chronology of Data Breaches."  It doesn’t promise that it is comprehensive; what it does say is that it is a "useful indication of the types of breaches that occur, the categories of entities that experience breaches, and the size of such breaches." More

When we last looked at OCR’s reporting on HIPAA breaches impacting 500 or more individuals, back in May 2011, there had been 265.  This was up from September 2010, when there had been 191 such breaches. As of today, there as 292 listed.  Given that the last reported date of breach on the OCR’s list is May 8, there are surely over 300 breaches that have now been reported.… More

In another sign that OCR is continuing to seek significant penalties for HIPAA violations, it announced on July 7 that the UCLA Health System ("UCLAHS") has agreed to settle potential violations of the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules for $865,500 and has committed to a corrective action plan aimed at remedying gaps in its compliance with those rules.  This follows on the heels of Massachusetts General Hospital’s $1 million settlement with OCR.… More

hackers Anonymous “Lulz Security”

Increasingly, alliances are viewed as an important way to improve data security.  The Washington Post reports that the National Security Agency is now working with Internet service providers to thwart cyberattacks against defense firms by foreign adversaries.  We have previously noted two other initiatives:   the Advanced Cyber Security Center (to which Foley Hoag serves as legal counsel).and InfraGuard, a Federal Bureau of Investigation program. … More

We are six months into 2011, and it seems destined to be “The Year of the Breach.”  In just the past few months, major American (and multi-national) corporations and institutions have reported that they have been the victims of some kind of security breach:

• Epsilon: breach of customer email addresses;
• RSA: compromise of security tokens (possibly impacting Lockheed Martin);…

More

A recent settlement in a data breach case exemplifies how the government can go beyond a statutory scheme and use private industry standards to protect personal information and impose sanctions on violators.

The Massachusetts AG filed suit against the Briar Group, the owner of a number of bars in the Boston area (including two of my personal favorites, the Harp and Ned Devine’s) in the wake of a 2009 data breach involving credit card numbers and other personal data. … More

On May 5, a consumer class action was filed against Sony, relating to the data breaches in its Sony PlayStation and related services.  The complaint alleges negligence, invasion of privacy and misappropriation of confidential financial information, as well as breach of express and implied contract.  No specific damages were alleged. More

The scope of the Sony data breach is growing, but the public focus continues to be on Sony’s actions following the breach, rather than on steps to prevent or mitigate events like these in the first place. As we noted earlier, this focus emphasizes a de facto burden-shifting, in which consumers bear the risk of using on-line or other services, and also are left to face the consequences of any resulting identity theft.… More

The EU’s Justice Commissioner has chimed in on the Sony data breach, stating that Sony must "take the relevant technical and organizational measures to guarantee protection against data loss or an unjustified access." More

Sony’s unenviable status as the victim of the record theft of 77,000,000 individuals’ personal information underscores a reality that the on-line business community would like its army of customers to forget: it’s not just that the so-called “hackers” can be very good at what they do, it’s that the appointed guardians of legally protected personal information are not necessarily awake at the switch. Two weeks after this “illegal and unauthorized” intrusion —… More

When we last looked at OCR’s reporting on HIPAA breaches impacting 500 or more individuals, back in September 2010, there had been 191 such breaches. In the intervening 7 months, that number has jumped to 265 such breaches listed on OCR’s website.  It’s safe to expect these figures will continue to climb for the foreseeable future. More

In the April 22, 2011 Boston Business Journal article, entitled, "Pressure Point: Online Privacy —
Privacy is Potentially a Costly Workplace Issue," I was interviewed regarding some of the recent developments in privacy and security law for employers: 

• “Most of the time, data breaches don’t come down to a failure of technology or inadequate technology. It comes down to someone doing something stupid,”…

More

If you are like me, you may have received an email from TripAdvisor, alerting you that "an unauthorized third party had stolen part of TripAdvisor’s member email list."  The text of that email was as follows: 

To our travel community:
This past weekend we discovered that an unauthorized third party had stolen part of TripAdvisor’s member email list. We’ve confirmed the source of the vulnerability and shut it down.… More

On March 14, the California-based managed care organization, Health Net, Inc., announced that it cannot account for "several server drives" that contained protected health information.  According to California regulators, these servers appear to contain the data of 1.9 million people nationwide:

The company announced today that nine of its server drives containing personal information for 1.9 million current and past enrollees nationwide are missing, including records for more than 622,000 enrollees in Health Net products regulated by the DMHC,… More

As we noted earlier this month, Massachusetts General Hospital recently entered into a $1 million Resolution Agreement  and Corrective Action Plan with the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Civil Rights.  This settlement stemmed from an incident on March 9, 2009, when a MGH employee was commuting on the subway, "removed documents containing PHI from her bag and placed them on the seat beside her. The documents were not in an envelope and were bound with a rubber band.… More

My slides from this presentation, "Compliance Approaches in the Changing HIT Privacy and Security Landscape:  How You Can Nurture a Culture of Health Information Security and Privacy" cover HIPAA and HITECH developments and compliance, with a focus on breaches and OCR settlements/penalties, including:

• §Resolution Agreement with Providence Health & Services–July 16, 2008
  Settlement:  $100,000
• §Resolution Agreement with CVS Pharmacy,…

More

As we noted back in May, digital copiers have caught the eye of government privacy enforcers.  If you have a digital copier at your business, you should review the FTC’s Copier Data Security: A Guide for Businesses.  In that Guide, the FTC suggests that “your information security plans .  . . should cover the digital copiers your company uses. If the data on your copiers gets into the wrong hands,… More

In a recent article in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, the strength of passwords in clinical trials was analyzed. In all cases that were examined, "the recovered passwords were poorly constructed, with names of local locations (e.g., “ottawa”), names of animals (e.g., “cobra”), car brands (e.g., “nissan”), and common number sequences (e.g., “123”)." 

This result comes as no real surprise.  These conclusions build on prior studies … More

In the recently-released fiscal 2012 budget for HHS, a dirty little secret has been acknowledged:  the Office of Civil Rights does not have the resources to review all reported breaches of health information.  In fact, if you have a breach that impacts up to 499 people, you are unlikely to hear from OCR at all:

Current OCR practice is to validate, post to the HHS website,… More

As so often happens following a hospital’s involvement in a high profile event, the Tucson hospital treating the victims of the recent shooting is reported to have fired several staff, presumably for looking at patient records they should not have looked at:

Katie Riley, the Director of Media Relations in the Office of Public Affairs at the

Arizona Health Sciences Center said in a statement:

“University Medical Center takes the privacy of all patients very seriously. … More

In January, we provided some helpful hints about passwords, in our entry:  Is Your Password Still "123456"? If So, It’s Time for a Change.

It’s been nearly a year, so it’s time to change your password again.  In case you need some help, we liked the guidance provided by the public radio program, Marketplace, in a recent broadcast.  Ironically, these recommendations come from an expert whose company’s password databases had just been hacked.  … More

This is a cross-posting of an interesting November 29 entry in Foley Hoag’s Emerging Enterprise Center blog, by Patrick Connolly and Prithvi Tanwar:

If your start-up’s website will collect user information…. and chances are it will, you need to start thinking about your website privacy policy. I have often spoken with founders who think that the website privacy policy is a “one size fits all,… More

Following on the heels of the discovery of hospital records in a town garbage dump, today’s Boston Globe reported that  "computer files that possibly contained personal information on about 800,000 people connected to South Shore Hospital are ‘unrecoverable.’"  However, the investigation into this breach determined that there was a low of harm risk to those individuals whose records were lost, given that the tapes in question "would require specialized equipment and software to read the information." … More

According to a report in the Boston Globe, TJX has settled a lawsuit brought by the Louisiana Municipal Police Employees’ Retirement System, a TJX stockholder, which had alleged that the TJX board of directors failed to protect customers’ personal data, apparently in connection with Alberto Gonzalez breach.  Bloomberg News has reported the case was settled for $595,000 in legal fees and an agreement regarding enhanced oversight of customer files.  … More

Last week, the Ponemon Institute and PGP Corporation released the results of their Global 2009 Annual Study on Cost of a Data Breach (.pdf) [available directly from EncryptionReports].  The highlights of the survey were announced in PGP’s press release.  Ponemon surveyed companies in the U.S., UK, Germany, Australia and France and found that in 2009,… More

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee announced last week that nearly 1 million of its members have been affected by the theft of hard drives containing unencrypted personal data.  BCBSTN had previously announced in January that 1.6 million files with unencrypted personal and protected health information of about 500,000 members in 32 states were breached in October 2009, due to a theft of 58 hard drives.

While the breach itself is significant for its size,… More

Last week, lawyers from Microsoft issued a demand under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) seeking the removal of leaked copies of Microsoft’s “Global Criminal Compliance Handbook” that pulled website Cryptome.org from the Internet, at least temporarily.  The DMCA provides copyright owners with the ability to request that internet service providers remove infringing materials from websites.  Microsoft’s DMCA demand to Cryptome’s service provider, Network Solutions,… More

At the end of February, the HHS Office of Civil Rights (“OCR”) posted on its website a list of HIPAA “covered entities” that have reported breaches of unsecured health information affecting more than 500 individuals.  OCR’s posting showed 35 health data breaches that impacted over 700,000 individuals (with individual breaches ranging in size from 359,000 individuals, due to the theft of a  laptop to 501 individuals impacted by the theft of a portable USB device). … More

1.  The FTC Fines Las Vegas Man $35,000 for Dumping Customer Financial Records In Public Dumpster

This week, the FTC finalized a $35,000 settlement with Gregory Navone, the real estate broker who left 40 boxes of customer tax returns, bank statements, consumer reports and other financial records in a public dumpster behind an office building in Las Vegas.  The defendant agreed to the fine, which amounts to $875 per box,… More

If you or your co-workers use any of the passwords listed below, you are asking to be hacked.  According to a report from the consulting firm Imperva, this list reflects an analysis of some 32 million passwords that an unknown hacker stole in December 2009 from RockYou, a company that makes software for users of social networking sites.  Somewhat shockingly, the password “123456” was used by nearly 1% of all RockYou users;… More

In the first instance of a state attorney general exercising the new powers granted by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act ("HITECH Act"), Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal (and recently announced candidate for the U.S. Senate) filed suit today against Health Net of Connecticut, Inc. for failing to secure private patient medical records and financial information involving 446,000 enrollees in Connecticut and for failing to promptly notify consumers of the security breach.… More

The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Civil Rights (“OCR”) has tried to make a HIPAA security breach easy to report, with its newly-released online “Notice to the Secretary of HHS of Breach of Unsecured Protected Health Information.” 

The online form is straightforward, featuring pull-down options tied to the new HITECH rules:  it will let you report whether your breach is for more than 500 individuals (or fewer than that),… More

Last week, it was learned that a secret report of the U.S. House of Representatives Ethics Committee was disclosed — apparently inadvertently — by a junior committee staff member.  This staff apparently stored the file on a home computer that also ran a "peer-to-peer" file-sharing service.  Just as peer-to-peer services let you share music and games, they also can give outside users access to other files on your computer, including in this case secret Congressional reports. … More

This week, ChoicePoint, Inc. finalized its settlement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to resolve charges stemming from a 2008 breach that compromised the personal information of 13,750 consumers. This case is notable, even though the size of the breach and the monetary payment involved are relatively modest, because the underlying breach allegedly resulted from the ineffective implementation of security tools.

What started out as an incident involving the leak of 10,000 user names and passwords for Windows Live Hotmail accounts continues to grow, both in terms of users and companies affected. According to reports from the beginning of the week, more than 10,000 user names and passwords from Hotmail were posted by an anonymous user on the site pastebin.com. The list was limited to accounts starting in A and B, leaving the fear that numerous more accounts had been affected. The original reports speculated that the breach was the result of a hack of Hotmail or a phishing attack. But more information is surfacing that indicates that the breach is much larger than first thought.

Incident of the Week: in our first double feature, we report on the recent breach announced at the University of North Carolina and the plea agreement reached with one Massachusetts inmate who hacked the prison computer system while still behind bars.

As we reported on April 2, a California hospital breached the privacy of the infamous "OctoMom," Nadya Suleman.  When the breach was discovered, Kaiser Permanente’s hospital in Bellflower, California fired 15 employees.  These violations also were reported by Kaiser to the California Department of Public Health, which has announced a $187,500 administrative penalty against Kaiser.  CDPH has determined that the hospital "failed to prevent unauthorized access to patients’… More

In June, a team of researchers investigating the disposal of electronics in Ghana for PBS series Frontline discovered that computers dumped in Ghana still contained highly sensitive data from their prior owners. The researchers procured seven hard drives from the dump in Ghana and they contained credit card numbers and resumes.  The highlight of the investigation was when they discovered unencrypted information from government contractor Northrop Grumman. … More

In what it describes as an effort "[t]o protect the privacy and security of patients," the American Medical Association (AMA) last week adopted a lengthy report and related principles for physicians to follow in the event a patient’s electronic medical record were to be breached.  The new AMA guidelines ask physicians to:

1. ensure patients are properly informed of the breach and the potential for harm;…

More

Last month, an unusual ransom demand was made on the Commonwealth of Virginia.  See Encryption Used By Hackers to Demand Ransom for Virginia Prescription Database, May 5, 2009.  In a posting late last week, the Virgina Department of Health Professions announced that it had sent a letter to affected individuals ("persons whose PMP records contained a nine-digit number that could be a social security number"). … More

In this, the third and final part of Security, Privacy and the Law’s interview with M. Eric Johnson (Part 1 may be found here and Part 2 is here), Dr. Johnson talks about why the fragmented nature of the American healthcare system is so dangerous and why he believes greater consolidation would better protect private information. He also talks about the specific problems associated with data security on peer-to-peer file sharing networks.… More

In this, the second part of Privacy, Security and the Law’s three part interview with M. Eric Johnson (begun here), Dr. Johnson talks about why he thinks the healthcare sector is uniquely vulnerable to security breaches and what special problems that vulnerability poses. More

Security, Privacy, and The Law recently had the chance to sit down with Dr. M. Eric Johnson to talk about his recent paper “Data Hemorrhages in the Health-Care Sector.” Dr. Johnson’s study has been in the news lately because many were startled by his finding that a great deal of patient healthcare information is available on peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing networks. We are thrilled that Dr. Johnson agreed to do a interview with Security, Privacy, and The Law and we will be posting the full interview with Dr. Johnson in several parts.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, March 18, 2009 that, worried about the dangers of attacks launched against the nation’s computer systems, the federal government is likely to spend between $15 and $30 billion on cybersecurity in the next five years. The intelligence experts interviewed by the Journal estimate that U.S. losses from data breaches to be in the billions of dollars annually and that future attacks could cause physical harm or serious financial chaos. … More

The saga of Yankee superstar Alex Rodriguez (“A-Rod”) and the revelation of his past steroid use already exemplifies the far-reaching implications of information security practices. But the story is far from over. While the media firestorm over A-Rod appears to be dying down, the fate of the identities of 103 other Major League Baseball players who tested positive for steroid use in 2003 remains undecided. And the outcome of a motion now before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit may affect not only those 103 baseball players,… More

As state data breach reporting regimes develop, we are going to be seeing more reporting of breaches to law enforcement authorities. If you want to see what this abstract concept of “reporting” looks like (and how your own reports might be listed for the public to see), go to the web site of the New Hampshire Attorney General. On that site, you can read about 20 New Hampshire breaches that have been reported thus far in 2009 for that modestly sized state. And if you want to get a feel for the national scope of data breaches,… More

Dwayne F. Cross, the second of three people who have plead guilty to illegally accessing then Presidential Candidate Barack Obama’s passport files was sentenced to 12 months probation and 100 hours of community service on Monday. Mr. Cross admitted to accessing State Department passport records involving over 150 individuals, including celebrities, family members, and personal acquaintances, out of “idle curiosity”. These files contained a wealth of personal information including social security numbers,… More

As discussed by Mike Rosen on Foley Hoag’s Noncompete Blog here, and reported by the Washington Post and CNN, a recently released report by Symantec Corp. and the Ponemon Institute (which can be found here) revealed that 59% of ex-employees who leave their employment are stealing company information, and 67% of those who admitted to stealing company information also admitted that they used that information to leverage a new job.… More

Between March 11, 2009 and March 13, 2009, the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) hosted a Privacy Summit in Washington, D.C. that featured keynote presentations from fraud expert Frank W. Abagnale and information security guru Bruce Schneier. The three-day event included dozens of breakout sessions with industry experts and government officials.  Read some of the highlights below. More

In early February, I noted that a group called the Consumer Privacy Legislative Forum (“CPLF”), which includes companies such as eBay, Microsoft, Google and Hewlett Packard, had released a statement calling for comprehensive harmonized federal privacy legislation and would be outlining recommendations for such legislation this month. Apparently, the CPLF’s focus has shifted. According to a BNA Privacy & Security Law Report, 8 PVLR 331, the CPLF “has decided to abandon efforts to develop a set of principles for omnibus U.S.… More

This settlement is particularly interesting, given that it appears to stem from a voluntary disclosure, without any prejudice to any of the physicians whose information was disclosed.  Despite those mitigating factors, the disclosure still resulted in a six-figure penalty. As such, this is another suggestion that the days of soft enforcement of health-related information confidentiality are over.

The Queen’s Medical Center (“QMC”) of Hawaii recently agreed to pay $150,500 in civil money penalties for allegedly violating the confidentiality requirements applicable to National Practitioner Data Bank (“NPDB”) information.… More

For those who want to see the source document, we have provided this link to the text of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.  The health security and privacy provisions start at Section 13000, around page 112. More

On Tuesday, February 17, 2009, President Obama signed into law the widely-debated federal economic stimulus package, officially titled the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, and with it, enacted the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act). Much of the media attention on the HITECH Act has focused on the policies promoting health information technology a topic that President Obama touted throughout his campaign. However, the HITECH Act also contains myriad regulations that expand the security and privacy provisions of the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 ("HIPAA"),… More

On Thursday, February 12, 2009, the Massachusetts Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation (OCABR) issued a public statement indicating that it is extending the May 1, 2009 deadline to comply with recent Massachusetts identity theft regulations until January 1, 2010. 

The Massachusetts identity theft regulations affect entities that own, license, store or maintain personal information, including social security numbers, state identification numbers and financial account information,… More

 It has been a bad week for the federal government’s own information security track record.

The first story comes from the FAA where hackers broke into the agency’s computer systems and stole personal information on some 45,000 individuals. The second story comes from Los Alamos National Laboratory, which confirmed the theft of 67 computers, 13 in the past year alone. In both instances the American people appear to have dogged a bullet. The electronic intrusion into the FAA appears to have been limited to a raid of personal information and did not interfere with air traffic control systems. … More

According to the Identity Theft Resource Center’s (ITRC) recently released report (.pdf) on data breaches in 2008, one of the top five causes of data breaches are what the ITRC labels “accidental exposure.”   [For our earlier coverage on the ITRC’s report see this link.] The ITRC reports that accidental exposure amount to 95 of the 656 data breaches in 2008.

ITRC considers “accidental exposure”… More

According to a recently-released report from McAfee, the downturn in the economy is creating a “perfect information security risk storm.” The report, entitled “Unsecured Economies: Protecting Vital Information,” can be found here [Note: MacAfee requires registration to downloade the report]. McAfee bases its findings on a worldwide survey of 1,000 IT decision makers.

The McAfee Report makes four key findings:

1. Increasingly, important digital information is being moved between companies and across continents and is being lost.…

More

Most of us remember fondly the Winnie-the-Pooh stories by A.A. Milne from our childhood. One that is memorable for me is “Piglet Meets a Heffalump.” In that story, Winnie-the-Pooh and Piglet plot to catch the new animal they believe is living in the Hundred Acre Wood. They have named this animal the Heffalump. They set a trap for the Heffalump, but instead of catching it, Pooh instead becomes trapped in the hole he had dug to catch the Heffalump. To add insult to injury,… More

On January 2, 2009, the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) released its report(.pdf) on data breaches in the United States in 2008 (you can read the Washington Post’s primer on the ITRC’s findings here). The raw numbers are headline grabbing — 656 data breaches in 2008, a 47% increase from 2007. The sharp increase in numbers from 2007 to 2008 could be a result of an increase in data breach incidents,… More

On January 6, 2009, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Cal.) introduced two bills related to data breaches and protection of social security numbers. Bill S. 139, entitled the "Data Breach Notification Act," would require any federal agency or business entity to notify an individual of a security breach involving personal information “without unreasonable delay.” The proposed bill defines “reasonable delay” as including “any time necessary to determine the scope of the security breach,… More

High-profile Massachusetts businesses and industry groups have sent Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick a letter requesting that the governor reissue existing identity theft regulations and give battered businesses two additional years to develop information security programs.

Anyone mystified by what practices the FTC wants businesses to improve on or abandon in response to federal “Red Flags” regulations received some specific guidance in December, when the FTC released the report Security in Numbers – SSNs and ID Theft. For anyone subject to new federal and state identity theft regulations, the Report helps identify some specific steps they should consider implementing by May 1, 2009, the deadline for businesses to adopt compliant identity theft prevention programs.

On Friday, November 14, 2008, Massachusetts regulators announced that they will give affected businesses until May 1, 2009 to comply with new identity theft regulations. This move parallels the October announcement by the Federal Trade Commission that it is delaying enforcement of federal identity theft regulations until the same day.

On Wednesday, October 22, 2008, the Federal Trade Commission issued an Enforcement Policy Statement that it will delay some elements of enforcement of recent “Red Flags” regulations until May 1, 2009, instead of the original November 1, 2008 date. Citing uncertainty and confusion within many industries over whether they are covered by the new regulations, the FTC indicated that it will not seek to enforce the regulations on November 1, 2008, when all affected businesses were originally required to come into compliance.