The Department of Justice has announced the indictment of seven Iranian hackers alleged to work for the Iranian government on charges stemming from a coordinated string of distributed denial of service (“DDoS”) attacks primarily against U.S. financial institutions from 2011 to 2013. One of the hackers is also charged with hacking into the supervisory control […]
HHS/OCR Announces Launch of HIPAA Audit Program Phase 2
Today, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services’s (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced the launch of Phase 2 of its HIPAA Compliance Audit Program. (OCR’s announcement can be accessed at Audit Phase 2 Announcement and further information about Phase 2 can be accessed at Audit Phase 2 Information.) In this phase, OCR will […]
FCC Proposes New Privacy Rules for Internet Service Providers
On March 10, 2016, the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) proposed new privacy and data security rules for Internet service providers (“ISPs”) that, if passed, would regulate how ISPs collect, use, share, and protect customers’ data. The notice of proposed rulemaking (“NPRM”) that FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler circulated for consideration by the full Commission is previewed […]
A Brief Overview of the Privacy Shield
A one page summary is now available to help U.S. organizations initially evaluate whether the Privacy Shield represents a viable mechanism to legitimize their transfer of personal data from the European union. The summary lists the key features and requirements of the Privacy Shield, some of which were contained in the now-invalidated EU-U.S. Safe Harbor Framework, […]
FTC Announces Study of PCI-DSS Assessment Companies
On Monday, March 7 the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a press release announcing that it had issued Orders to nine Qualified Security Assessor (QSA) companies, which are certified to assess whether or not entities involved in payment card processing, such as merchants, are compliant with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS). […]