Privacy & Information Security Law Blog

On May 5, 2017, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York entered a default judgment in favor of the SEC against three Chinese defendants accused of hacking into the nonpublic networks of two New York-headquartered law firms and stealing confidential information regarding several publicly traded companies engaged in mergers and acquisitions. The defendants allegedly profited illegally by trading the stolen nonpublic information. After the defendants failed to answer the SEC’s complaint, the court entered a default judgment against them, imposing a fine ...

On May 12, 2017, a massive ransomware attack began affecting tens of thousands of computer systems in over 100 countries. The ransomware, known as “WannaCry,” leverages a Windows vulnerability and encrypts files on infected systems and demands payment for their release. If payment is not received within a specified time frame, the ransomware automatically deletes the files. A wide range of industries have been impacted by the attack, including businesses, hospitals, utilities and government entities around the world.

On May 11, 2017, President Trump signed an executive order (the “Order”) that seeks to improve the federal government’s cybersecurity posture and better protect the nation’s critical infrastructure from cyber attacks. The Order also seeks to establish policies for preventing foreign nations from using cyber attacks to target American citizens.

Read the full text of the Order.

On May 2, 2017, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued a summary order affirming dismissal of a putative data breach class action against Michaels Stores, Inc. (“Michaels”). The plaintiff’s injury theories were as follows: (1) the plaintiff’s credit card information was stolen and twice used to attempt fraudulent purchases; (2) the risk of future identity fraud and (3) lost time and money resolving the attempted fraudulent charges and monitoring credit. The plaintiff, however, quickly cancelled her card after learning of the unauthorized charges and did not allege that she was held responsible for any of those charges.

Privacy and data security issues have become the subject of critical focus in corporate mergers, acquisitions, divestitures and related transactions. In 2016 and 2017, several large transactions, especially those involving telecommunications, entertainment and technology companies, have been impacted by either concerns about the collection and use of personal information or significant information security breaches. The FTC has sharpened its focus on the use of personal information as a factor in evaluating the competitive effects of a given corporate transaction, and the SEC is now closely scrutinizing privacy and data security representations made to investors in public filings connected to transactions. More broadly, privacy and data security problems that are not timely discovered before entering into an M&A transaction can become significant liabilities post-closing and also lead to litigation.

On May 2, 2017, the Cyberspace Administration of China published the final version of the Measures for the Security Review of Network Products and Services (for trial implementation) (the “Measures”), after having published a draft for public comment in February. Pursuant to the Cybersecurity Law of China (the “Cybersecurity Law”), if an operator of key information infrastructure purchases a network product or service that may affect national security, a security review of that product or service is required. The Measures provide detailed information about how these security reviews will actually be implemented. The Measures will come into effect on June 1, 2017, together with the Cybersecurity Law. The Measures should not be confused with the final version of the draft Measures for the Security Assessment of Outbound Transmission of Personal Information and Critical Data, which was published on April 11, 2017, and remain open for public comment.

On April 24, 2017, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) announced that it had entered into a resolution agreement with CardioNet, Inc. (“CardioNet”) stemming from gaps in policies and procedures uncovered after CardioNet reported breaches of unsecured electronic protected health information (“ePHI”). CardioNet provides patients with an ambulatory cardiac monitoring service, and the settlement is OCR’s first with a wireless health services provider.

This post has been updated. 

On April 27, 2017, the German Federal Parliament adopted the new German Federal Data Protection Act (Bundesdatenschutzgesetz) (“new BDSG”) to replace the existing Federal Data Protection Act of 2003. The new BDSG is intended to adapt the current German data protection law to the EU General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), which will become effective on May 25, 2018.

Earlier this month, the New York State Department of Financial Services (“NYDFS”) recently published FAQs and key dates for its cybersecurity regulation (the “NYDFS Regulation”) for financial institutions that became effective on March 1, 2017.

On April 19, 2017, the FTC announced that it is seeking public comment on proposed changes to TRUSTe, Inc.’s safe harbor program under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule (the “Proposed Changes”). As we previously reported, New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced that TRUSTe agreed to settle allegations that it failed to properly verify that customer websites aimed at children did not run third-party software to track users. The Proposed Changes are a result of the settlement agreement between TRUSTe and the New York Attorney General.