Alston & Bird’s Privacy & Data Security Team has been named to the first-annual Above The Law (ATL) Top Law Firm Privacy Practice Index. Firms named to the Index were rated by nearly 300 in-house counsel on the “strength and quality” of their data privacy and/or cybersecurity practices. ATL also assessed firms on thought leadership in […]
Cybersecurity
SEC Announces Its First Enforcement Action Over Cyber-related Disclosures
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s $35 million settlement with Altaba Inc., the successor in interest to Yahoo! Inc., is the first civil penalty of its kind for a data breach and underscores the agency’s increasing focus on public companies’ cybersecurity disclosure obligations. A cross-practice team from our Securities Litigation and Cybersecurity Preparedness & Response groups […]
Seventh Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Schnuck Markets Data Breach Lawsuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit recently affirmed the dismissal of a putative class action brought by financial institutions against Schnuck Markets, Inc., following a data breach impacting Schnuck beginning late 2012. The plaintiffs attempted to assert claims of negligence, negligence per se, various contract claims, and violation of Illinois consumer […]
DHS and FBI Issue a Joint Technical Alert with UK Warning Russian State-Sponsored Cyber Attacks
On April 16, 2018, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the United Kingdom’s National Cyber Security Centre issued a joint Technical Alert (TA), alerting the worldwide cyber exploitation of network infrastructure devices by Russian state-sponsored cyber actors. The TA explains primary targets to be government and private-sector organizations, […]
SEC Adopts Statement and Interpretive Guidance on Public Company Cybersecurity Disclosures
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a press release announcing its unanimous approval of a statement by SEC Chairman Jay Clayton and interpretive guidance (the “2018 Guidance”) to assist public companies in preparing disclosures about cybersecurity risks and incidents. This is the first interpretive guidance published by the full Commission on the topic of […]