On November 30, 2017, a group of U.S. senators re-introduced a bill, known as the Data Security and Breach Notification Act, which seeks to impose criminal liability of up to five years of jail time on any corporate executive convicted of “intentionally and willfully” concealing a data breach. The bill also proposes that the Federal […]
Cybersecurity
Virginia Amends Data Breach Notification Law
Virginia amended the state’s data breach notification law, effective July 1, 2017, to expand notification requirements for employers and payroll service providers to data breaches that involve “unauthorized access and acquisition of unencrypted and unredacted computerized data containing a [Virginia] taxpayer’s identification number in combination with the income tax withheld for that taxpayer. . . […]
SEC Chairman Jay Clayton Announces Data Breach of SEC Systems Which May Have Led to Insider Trading
SEC Chairman Jay Clayton issued a public statement on Cybersecurity (the “Clayton Statement”) last week, disclosing a 2016 attack on the SEC’s database of corporate filings. The intrusion exploited a vulnerability in the test filing component of the EDGAR system, a document repository for disclosures from public companies and issuers, through which the intruder was […]
FTC Announces First Privacy Shield Enforcement Actions
The Federal Trade Commission recently announced that it had settled charges against three companies alleged to have falsely claimed participation in Privacy Shield. Privacy Shield supports EU – U.S. transfers of personal data by helping U.S. companies demonstrate compliance with European Union data transfer rules. Companies participating in the program commit to meet specific program requirements […]
Eighth Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Scottrade Data Breach Suit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit recently affirmed the district court’s dismissal of a putative class action brought by customers of the brokerage firm Scottrade in the wake of an alleged data breach impacting Scottrade in 2013. The named plaintiffs had asserted several contract-based claims against Scottrade, alleging that Scottrade had […]