The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (“IC3”) recently released its annual report, the 2020 Internet Crime Report (“Report”), which gathers statistics from nearly 800,000 complaints of suspected cybercrimes that the department received in 2020. This is a record number of complaints—a 69% increase from 2019—with reported losses exceeding $4.2 billion. According to the FBI, the […]
Cybercrime
Russia Sanctioned For Role In SolarWinds Supply Chain Attack
On April 15, 2021, the Biden Administration took a significant step in announcing sanctions against the Russian Government and private Russian entities for multiple internationally-destabilizing activities, including the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service’s (SVR) supply chain attack of the SolarWinds Orion platform and other technology infrastructures. In addition to the sanctions, the Administration also provided practical […]
NYDFS Reports Major Cybersecurity Settlement
In early March, the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) announced a settlement involving a $1.5M penalty and mandatory remediation in response to a mortgage lender’s alleged failure to report a cyber breach, and other alleged cybersecurity failures. This enforcement action marks the second public enforcement action under 23 NYCRR Part 500 (the “Cybersecurity […]
U.S. Takes Part in Multinational Efforts to Disrupt Netwalker Ransomware and Emotet Malware
On January 27 and 28, 2021, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced two successful operations to disrupt two different strains of malware, Netwalker ransomware and a banking Trojan known as Emotet, which have affected victims around the globe and caused millions of dollars in damage in recent years. The law enforcement actions against Netwalker and […]
Federal Court Rules Cyber Forensic Report Is Not Protected Under Attorney-Client Privilege Or Work Product Doctrine
On January 12, 2021, Judge Boasberg (D.D.C.) ruled that a forensic report prepared for outside counsel following a cyber incident investigation was not protected under either attorney-client privilege or the work product doctrine. The investigation in question was run by outside counsel and the security firm had been retained by outside counsel. This decision is […]