In October 2018, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) published a report that summarized discussions at a December 2017 workshop discussing the potential impact to consumers of privacy and security incidents. The purpose of the workshop was to explore whether government intervention in this arena is warranted under the enforcement authority granted to the FTC under the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. § 41 et seq.
The report reveals that the workshop participants identified several types of potential impacts that they believe consumers may face in the wake of a data security incident that could warrant [...] Read more
Mandatory privacy breach notification, reporting and record-keeping obligations under Canada’s federal data protection law called the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) will come into force as of November 1, 2018.
Earlier this year, the Canadian government published new privacy-related obligations under PIPEDA. PIPEDA applies to private-sector organizations and sets the ground rules for how businesses must handle personal information in the course of commercial activity. The new obligations present challenges to organizations, requiring an additional [...] Read more
The Securities and Exchange Commission issued an investigative report last week cautioning public companies to consider cyber incidents and threats when implementing internal accounting controls. The report details the SEC Enforcement Division’s investigations of nine public companies that were victims of cyber-related fraud schemes to determine whether the companies may have violated the federal securities laws by failing to maintain a sufficient system of internal accounting controls. Based on the investigations, the report concludes that public companies’ internal accounting controls […] Read more
Binding corporate rules (BCRs) are a legally recognized mechanism that facilitate intra-group transfers of personal data from the European Economic Area (EEA) to the rest of the world. Adopting BCRs not only allows for the free flow of information across an organization but also builds a strong digital culture which is crucial in this data intensive world. On Nov. 7th at 1-2 pm ET, join partners Jan Dhont and Jim Harvey, and senior counsel Peter Swire in an engaging discussion on the evolution of BCRs, the path to BCRs (including the application process), and the realities of embedding the elements […] Read more
Alston & Bird recently issued an advisory entitled, “Applying GDPR Process Lessons to the CCPA,” authored by Jim Harvey and Karen Sanzaro. The recently and hastily adopted California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA) has already been compared to the General Data Protection Act (GDPR), though the two greatly differ in scope and content. However, there are valuable insights to glean from the GDPR adoption process that can give companies a heads start on implementing the CCPA. The advisory examines these five lessons from which companies can learn:
Leadership and multidisciplinary [...] Read more
On September 27, 2018, the Department of Justice Computer Crime and Intellectual Property (CCIPS) Cybersecurity Unit released Version 2.0 of its “Best Practices for Victim Response and Reporting of Cyber Incidents.” Originally issued in 2015, the updated guidance seeks to help organizations better equip themselves to be able to respond effectively and lawfully to cyber incidents. The updated version distills insights from private and public sector experts, incorporating new incident response considerations in light of technical and legal developments in the past three years. While the guidance [...] Read more
Theodore Christakis, Professor of International at the University Grenoble Alpes and Senior Fellow at the Cross-Border Data Forum, has a published a new article examining the right of European Union Member States to review European Production Orders under the draft E-Evidence framework. Prof. Christakis looks at Statewatch’s recently released key EU Council documents on the E-Evidence negotiations, written comments from Member States, and Professor Martin Böse’s recent LIBE Committee-commissioned study on the Commission’s proposals on electronic evidence.
Prof. Christakis’s article [...] Read more
On September 26, 2018, the SEC brought its first ever enforcement action for violations of Regulation S-ID (the “Identity Theft Red Flags Rule”), 17 C.F.R. § 248.201, in addition to violations of Regulation S-P, 17 C.F.R. 30(a) (the “Safeguards Rule”). Regulation S-ID and Regulation S-P apply to SEC-registered broker-dealers, investment companies, and investment advisers, and require those entities to maintain written policies and procedures to detect, prevent and mitigate identity theft, and to safeguard customer records and information, respectively. The SEC’s action against Voya Financial […] Read more
On September 23, 2018, Governor Jerry Brown signed SB 1121, the amendment to the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). SB 1121 attempts to clean up some drafting errors and ambiguities in the original legislation (AB 375), but it also effectively reduces the procedural obstacles to the CCPA’s private right of action by removing the requirement that a plaintiff first notify the Attorney General before filing a lawsuit pursuant to the CCPA, which would have provided the Attorney General the opportunity to order a plaintiff not to proceed. For a more in-depth analysis of the private right of […] Read more
Ohio recently enacted the Ohio Data Protection Act (2018 SB 220), a law that offers a breach litigation safe harbor to businesses meeting specific cybersecurity standards. While the law does not prevent a plaintiff from filing a lawsuit following a data breach, it does provide an affirmative defense to companies defending themselves against such claims. If an entity’s data security policies conform to one of several listed cybersecurity frameworks, the entity can invoke the safe harbor as a defense, and possibly defeat a tort claim alleging that the company’s failure to comply with reasonable […] Read more
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