Privacy

Cybersecurity Law & Strategy

The Principles of Good Cyber Risk Management

Ankur Sheth and Jano Bermudes

Apart from headline grabbing attacks, we are now seeing an epidemic of cyber attacks. Concern has shifted from dealing with data being stolen and sold on the dark Web to handling serious ransomware and destructive attacks, where attackers are looking for immediate monetary output.

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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy

Second Circuit Blocks Video Privacy Suit Brought Against Barnes & Noble

Jenna Greene

A would-be class action against Barnes & Noble could have cost the bookseller hundreds of millions of dollars — not to mention a reputational hit for allegedly sharing private information about its customers’ online video purchases with Facebook.

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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy

Privacy Notices, Opt-In Clauses Debated as U.S. Regulators Shape Federal Privacy Law

Caroline Spiezio

Tech giants’ privacy counsel and U.S. senators discussed opt-in policies, lengthy, legalese-filled privacy notices and location tracking. The discussion aimed to further shape a potential U.S. federal data privacy law.

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Entertainment Law & Finance

Second Circuit Blocks Video Privacy Suit Brought Against Barnes & Noble

Jenna Greene

A would-be class action against Barnes & Noble could have cost the bookseller hundreds of millions of dollars — not to mention a reputational hit for allegedly sharing private information about its customers’ online video purchases with Facebook.

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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy

A Survey of Proposed Federal Privacy Legislation and the Year Ahead

Jeffrey Atteberry

The social, economic, and political forces pushing for a comprehensive overhaul of the nation’s privacy regime are numerous, and many see 2019 as presenting the best opportunity yet for passage of federal data privacy legislation.

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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy

House Hearing on Federal Privacy Law Takes Aim at GDPR, CCPA

Rhys Dipshan

The house consumer protection and commerce subcommittee agreed on the need for a new federal privacy law. But it was an open question how closely that law would follow what has already been done in California or in the EU.

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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy

2019 Trends Overview: Compliance, Privacy and Security Family Tree

Mark Sangster

In 2019, regulations and laws will continue to define how businesses collect and use consumer data, and their obligations to protect this data from misuse, theft or exposure to unauthorized parties.

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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy

Causation and Harm In Data Breach Litigation

Brian Ellman and Jee-Yeon Lehmann

Demonstrating that a data breach has resulted in an injury-in-fact can be difficult, because it is not always clear what has happened or will happen with the stolen data.

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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy

Implications of GDPR & CCPA on Public Records

Jeff Cox

This article discusses the importance of securing a safe harbor for court records through reviewing an illustrative example of how a European Union (EU) citizen was able to force U.S. legal technology companies to remove and alter court records using GDPR.

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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy

Cloudy With a Chance of IoT attacks: The Cybersecurity Forecast for 2019

Leigh-Anne Galloway

2018 was a trying year for the cybersecurity industry, with breaches increasing and showing no signs of slowing as we enter the New Year. 2019 will bring its own threats with the propagation of new technology — 5G and IoT — and their security vulnerabilities. However, there’s also progress on the horizon, thanks to more stringent government regulation and increasing legal action.

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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy

What the U.S.’ Pursuit of Foreign Nation-State Hackers Means for Cybercrime Victims and Targets

Ronald Cheng and Mallory Jensen

For years, the U.S. has maintained an active enforcement campaign against overseas cyber criminals and while these past efforts have not been haphazard, they have not necessarily been part of a specific drive to address the serious issue of foreign cybercrime committed by nation states. Recent announcements by the DOJ show that this enforcement campaign is accelerating and expanding.

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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy

Q&A with Women Leaders in Cybersecurity and Privacy

Adam Schlagman

In 2017, Atlanta attorney Bess Hinson founded the Atlanta Women in Cybersecurity Roundtable, an invitation-only initiative to provide community and resources to advance women in cybersecurity in Atlanta. Here, we speak with some of those women leaders about their biggest security and privacy challenges and why women are pursing legal and other roles in the cybersecurity and privacy field.

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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy

Federal Data Privacy Legislation Is Likely Next Year, Tech Lawyers Say

Dan Clark

For Years, Federal Legislators Have Attempted to Pass Comprehensive Cybersecurity and Data Privacy Legislation. With More Support Than Ever from the Public, Industry and Both Sides of the Political Spectrum, 2019 May Be the Year When Such Legislation Is Enacted.

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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy

Prepping a Mock Notification Letter Before a Cybersecurity Breach Hits

Stephen Moore

Being prepared for the worst before it even happens can minimize the damage in the event of a cybersecurity incident. To get any company ready for a cybersecurity event, the first step is to organize a team to write a mock breach notification letter that will represent your message to the world about your failure in the event you have a breach.

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Entertainment Law & Finance

Risks in Online Collection of Children’s Data

Jeffrey Higel, Michael Bahar and Mike Nelson

As convenient, useful and cool mobile technology and interconnected devices are, they come with risks that remain largely unseen or, worse, ignored. Some pose security risks and privacy risk, like those present in voice-activated devices — especially for children. For manufacturers, they also pose regulatory litigation and insurance risks, especially when children end up using their “smart” products.

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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy

Sticking a Hand in the Internet Cookie Jar

Jeffrey Higel, Michael Bahar and Mike Nelson

Why Collecting Children’s Online Data is a Risk

As convenient, useful and cool mobile technology and interconnected devices are, they come with risks that remain largely unseen or, worse, ignored. For manufacturers, they also pose regulatory litigation, and insurance risks, especially when children end up using their “smart” products.

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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy

Are You Prepared? Dealing with GDPR-like Rules Spreading Across the Nation

Mark Sangster

California’s Consumer Privacy Act, signed into law earlier this year, follows a growing line of consumer privacy laws, such as the European General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), Canadian Breach of Security Safeguards Regulations of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), and related New York Department of Financial Services Cybersecurity Rules and Regulations (NYCRR 500).

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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy

Right Out of the Box: California Enacts First-of-its-Kind Statute Regulating Internet-of-Things

Michael Bahar, Frank Nolan and Trevor Satnick

Companies Impacted By California’s SB-327 — Especially Manufacturers and Distributors of IoT Devices — Should Work to Ensure Compliance With the Act As Soon As Possible If Regulatory Fallout Is to Be Avoided Come January 2020

While a great deal of attention has focused on the California Consumer Privacy Act, California also passed a less-publicized, but highly critical, statute that will regulate certain aspects of Internet of Things device security.

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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy

Elections: The Hidden Security Danger for Governments

Roy E. Hadley, Jr.

The news is replete with alleged actions of foreign governments and hackers trying to impact the democratic election process in the United States. It is incumbent upon the state and local governments to ensure the security of all elections.

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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy

Understanding the Intersection Between GDPR and Cybersecurity

Jake Frazier and Anthony J. Ferrante

It’s been about half a year since Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was activated, and corporate legal, privacy and compliance teams are beginning to adjust to the new lay of the land. We’ve seen early examples of enforcement activity, and those are helping organizations better understand the long-term landscape for compliance.

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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy

The Blockchain Will Support GDPR, but Not How Most People Think

Michael Smolenski

It’s clear that the onset of GDPR regulations and a quickly changing consumer sentiment about the sensitivity and value of their personal data will reorient a company’s interactions with their customers and their information. There will be some pain points in this transition, as Facebook investors recently demonstrated, but it doesn’t have to be a unilateral downturn for the tech industry.

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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy

Cybersecurity and Email

Bill Ho

In the legal community, professionals have embraced email. However, as increasing concerns and regulations around data security continue to evolve, the future of digital communication via email may not meet the more stringent requirements.

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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy

Retail Leads the Way in Data Breaches — Here’s How to Protect Your Customers

Paige Schaffer

If 2017 was considered the “year of the data breach” as the number of incidents hit a new record high of 1,579, 2018 might get even more serious. Just a little more than halfway through 2018, the number and scale of data breaches that have already been reported is staggering.

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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy

Cybersecurity Roundtable: Chicago’s Tech Experts Answer Three Critical Cybersecurity Questions

Adam Schlagman

Earlier this summer a group of security-minded executives in Chicago, long a hub for legal and financial tech, sat down for a panel discussion on anticipating and combatting cybercrime.

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Entertainment Law & Finance

Get Ready for California’s Version of the EU General Data Protection Regulation

Jacqueline Klosek

The entertainment industry is intensely focused on data collection and analytics as it seeks to maximize the exploitation of digital content. Just as those of us in the privacy field had begun to have a slight breather as much of the heavy lifting on the GDPR was finally behind us, lawmakers in California have passed the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA).

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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy

General Data Protection Regulation: Defense or Offense?

Nina Cunningham

Ostensibly, GDPR’s mission is to strengthen and unify the EU’s protection of online privacy rights and promote data protection for citizens of the 28 countries currently in the EU. In the global economy, however, GDPR serves as an alarm to all countries with business flowing across Europe and well beyond. Where business flows, data follow.

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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy

Five Takeaways from Recent Cybersecurity Developments by Colorado and the SEC

Brian Neil Hoffman

Colorado recently adopted a new law expanding companies’ obligations in the event of a cybersecurity incident, and establishing new data security and disposal obligations. Recent announcements by the SEC likewise emphasize important responsive points for both companies and their personnel in the wake of an incident. Five key takeaways from these developments are highlighted in this article.

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Entertainment Law & Finance

Issues Between EU Data Protection, Use of Blockchain

Justin Hectus and Kristy Sambor

Emerging technologies and regulations have the power to create, shape or kill businesses. For the entertainment industry, the European Union’s (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and blockchain technology each embody forces that have the potential for profound impact. Taken in tandem, the GDPR and blockchain highlight the possibilities and pitfalls of disruption and the importance of cross-organizational collaboration in compliance and innovation initiatives.

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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy

Blockchain and GDPR — Frenemies?

Justin Hectus and Kristy Sambor

In a nutshell, GDPR mandates that individuals have access and control over the use and maintenance of their data in certain circumstances, while the foundation of blockchain relies on the immutability of data. On the surface, these concepts seem in direct conflict with each other. This article discusses the points where GDPR and blockchain share common ground, where conflicts may exist and possible approaches for mitigating those conflicts.

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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy

Why Encryption Is the Key to Ensure Data Privacy in the Cloud

Linus Chang

At both a personal and corporate level, there are huge gains to be made in protecting against data breaches. The fact is that well-implemented client-side encryption — where the corporate user keeps their own key rather than entrusting a third party to guard their sensitive information — is the only sure way to guarantee data privacy when storing data on other people’s servers.

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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy

This is Not Your Father’s Cloud (Part Two)

Adam Cohen

Part Two of a Two-Part Article

In Part One of this article last month, we began a discussion designed to demystify the hesitations behind cloud security and analyzed the fast-growing transformation to a range of newer technical approaches with important consequences for legal practice. This month we continue the discussion by tackling the security and legal implications of the mass transformation of enterprise IT to cloud services from leading providers such as AWS and Azure.

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Business Crimes Bulletin

Balancing Fourth Amendment Expectations in the Electronic Era

Jonathan S. Feld, Dante Stella and Christina Brunty

As rapid technological changes in the 21st century continue to expand the types and volume of private electronic information, the Fourth Amendment’s privacy protections are evolving. The critical question in Fourth Amendment cases is whether a person has a “reasonable expectation of privacy in the information or event.”

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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy

In-House Counsel’s Growing Role in Data Protection and Security Risk Management

Deana Uhl

Building an Intelligence-Led Program

With reports of major breaches surfacing with alarming frequency, boards and C-Level management are now looking to counsel to implement programs that help the corporation prepare for, quickly recover and reduce fallout from, inevitable cyber incidents. In-house counsel is facing growing responsibility to minimize damage to the corporate reputation, loss of key data, and legal and regulatory penalties. And many worry their organization is stuck in a game of catch-up.

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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy

The End of the Privacy Shield?

Eric Levy

If the U.S. cannot come to an understanding with the European Parliament by September 1, companies that already participate in Privacy Shield may find themselves in limbo. But there are options.

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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy

Online Extra: Just How Far Will the Supreme Court’s 'Carpenter' Opinion Reverberate?

Rhys Dipshan

The ruling restricting the collection of historical cell site location information (CSLI) without a warrant aims to be narrow in scope, but legal experts argue it may have repercussions for years to come.

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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy

Security Breach Responses — As Important and Difficult As Ever

Bart A. Lazar

The confusing and conflicting world of contractual requirements and personal data security breach notification laws can add insult and expense to injury, and sometimes adds injury itself. Tough -- and sometimes expensive -- choices need to be made quickly.

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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy

The Power of Certifications in Legal

Jared Coseglia

Part Two of a Two-Part Article

Professionals in e-discovery and privacy, including lawyers, are hungry for growth opportunities and may be ripe to transition into certain security-centric positions; however, the security job landscape is far more expansive and far less commoditized than ESI or privacy — for now. Part Two provides a road map for how certifications can assist an individual or an organization in reinventing, repurposing, creating or maintaining cybersecurity talents.

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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy

Online Extra: The Evolving Nature of Cyber Law

Gabrielle Orum Hernández

A Q&A with Penn Law Prof. Anne Toomey McKenna

The newly appointed Penn State professor sees a lot of room for questions in the evolving cyber law landscape, but so far there are few answers.

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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy

Online Extra: Facebook’s Blockchain Bet Could Place It in the Data Decentralization Debate

Ian Lopez

Oft-Considered an Avenue for Individuals to Attain Greater Control over Their Digital Information, Blockchain Could Be Leveraged By Facebook to Change Its Status As “Gatekeeper” for User Data

Facebook Inc. recently announced that it will begin exploring different ways to incorporate blockchain into its infrastructure. Yet, questions remain over how the social media company will implement the technology and what sort of legal challenges doing so could portend.

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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy

Are U.S. Records Retention Requirements on a Collision Course with the GDPR’s ‘Right to Erasure?’

Stacey Garrett

U.S. laws require companies to retain records for years, and sometimes forever, and violating U.S. records retention laws can result in domestic fines and penalties. How can U.S. companies comply with the GDPR’s “right to erasure” while still fulfilling their U.S. records retention obligations?

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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy

Life in the (Regulated) Fast Lane: Companies Must Navigate Global Privacy Rules on Self-Driving Cars

Caroline Spiezio

The race is on to develop the best technology for autonomous vehicles, but there are also drives to increase regulation around the data these cars and trucks collect.

Clearly, it’s an exciting time to be in the autonomous car industry, and the race is on to develop the best tech first. But with an increasingly complex legal landscape, lawyers need to focus on compliance with evolving data privacy regulations.

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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy

Corporate Counsel Are Tackling Their Data Risk All at Once: Can They Do It?

Gabrielle Orum Hernández

A new BDO study finds a lack of priorities in data-related spending could, eventually, leave companies overstretched.

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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy

Online Extra: Equifax’s Liabilities Pile on After Discovery of New Compromised Data

Rhys Dipshan

After discovering that 2.4 million of its customers had partial driver’s license information stolen, Equifax will likely face renewed questions over the handling of its post-breach internal investigation.

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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy

China’s Cybersecurity Law Isn’t Just About Cybersecurity

Rhys Dipshan

The law — which includes data localization mandates, cybersecurity best practices, and data transfer restrictions — has similarities to other cyber laws such as the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). But in this case, it’s also being used to police internet content and behavior.

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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy

The Uber Breach and the Need for an Independent Privacy Function

Paige Boshell

Uber has incurred significant legal and reputational exposure as a result of the way that the company handled the breach. In the coming months, there will be a great deal of information and regulatory and judicial action that will act as guidance, or more precisely, a checklist of what-not-to-do, for companies that suffer a data breach.

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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy

How Blockchain Technology Can Drive the Legal Industry Forward

Dmitry Dontsov

A new legal structure that bestows and monitors trust must be employed. Is decentralization of traditional, gigantic central bank repositories of data the answer? Is blockchain technology the new path that the legal industry should take to sustain in the digital age? Let us consider the most significant implications of decentralized technologies to the legal industry.

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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy

Regulators are Catching Up to Cryptocurrency and Blockchain Technology within the Financial Services Industry

Craig Nazzaro, Brad Rustin and John Jennings

Part Two of a Two-Part Article

The proliferation of cryptocurrency and blockchain is being driven by the efficiencies and protections afforded to early adopters. The operational efficiencies and resulting cost savings are readily apparent in the financial services industry and are equally coveted by the entities trying to implement them and by the customers who will benefit from the implementation. However, neither party can fully enjoy these benefits without first understanding and overcoming the various regulatory hurdles.

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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy

Top Cybersecurity Takeaways from Relativity Fest 2017

April Runft

Cybersecurity is a hydra of complexity. Keeping a grasp on it requires constant re-education. What no one tells you: managing your company’s cyber vulnerability demands a willingness for personal vulnerability. Being honest about our cyber risks is painful. And scary.

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Internet Law & Strategy

Influencing the Influencers

Alan Friel and Stephanie Lucas

The importance of promoting brands and products on digital platforms has continued to grow as advertisers are learning how to use social media to reach out to specific populations by harnessing the power and goodwill of the people on these platforms that are popular with and influence particular niche groups of interest. These so-called “influencers” can have thousands, or even millions and tens of millions of followers. But when is the influencer an objective critic, and when is she a paid spokesperson?

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Internet Law & Strategy

Artificially Intelligent Blockchain of Things: Examining Legal Tech’s Biggest Buzzwords

Ian Lopez

Panelists at ALM Cybersecure 2017 Delved Into the Year’s Biggest Legal Technology Buzzwords and the Hype Fueling Their Popularity

Legal technology has no shortage of buzzwords. The latest slew to take the industry by storm were the topic conversation in a Dec. 5 panel at ALM’s CyberSecure event in New York.

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