Alston & Bird has published an updated set of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on the decision by the European Court of Justice holding that the U.S.-EU Safe Harbor Framework is invalid (also known as the Schrems decision). The FAQs are designed to help companies that rely on the Safe Harbor Framework understand the scope of the ECJ […]
Enforcement
A Busy Month for German Data Protection
The European Court of Justice handed down its Schrems decision invalidating the Safe Harbor mechanism on October 6, 2015. Since then, companies have been looking to the Data Protection Authorities (DPAs) of EU member states to see how the decision would be interpreted and enforced. As many companies know, Germany is a multifaceted data-protection landscape. […]
FFIEC Warns of Increase in Cyber Attacks Involving Extortion, Encourages Financial Institutions to Develop Response Programs
Last week, the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) issued a joint statement warning of an “increasing frequency and severity of cyber attacks involving extortion.” The statement warned that criminals have been extorting financial institutions using a variety of tactics, including denial of service attacks, theft of sensitive information, and use of “ransomware,” which is […]
European Commission Releases Communication on Schrems and Safe Harbor 2.0
On November 6, 2015, the European Commission released a widely-anticipated Communication assessing the impact of the judgment of the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) in the Schrems case (C-362/14), which invalidated the U.S.-EU Safe Harbor framework. Though the Communication is not legally binding, it provides useful guidance to companies on transfers of personal data to the […]
Swire on Data Transfers After Schrems
Peter Swire, Alston & Bird Senior Counsel and Georgia Institute of Technology Scheller College of Business professor, has published an article on the path forward for E.U. / U.S. data transfers. Swire’s article offers a historical perspective on the European Court of Justice’s (ECJ) recent decision in Schrems. Schrems invalidated the Safe Harbor framework relied […]