On September 16, 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that seven individuals believed to be part of a hacking group known as APT41 or “Wicked Panda,” including five Chinese nationals and two Malaysian nationals, have been charged in connection with a global hacking campaign that affected more than 100 companies around the world. […]
National Security & Digital Crimes
EU Announces First Sanctions under EU Cyber Sanctions Regime
On July 30, 2020, the European Council announced sanctions against six individuals and three organizations for their involvement in a series of cyber-attacks that have caused significant damage in the EU and around the world over the last several years. The announcement follows the EU’s adoption last year of Decision (CFSP) 2019/797, which established the […]
UK National Cyber Security Centre Advisory: Russian Attackers, APT29, Targets Companies Involved in COVID-19 Vaccine Development
Yesterday, the UK National Cyber Security Centre and Canada’s Communications Security Establishment released an advisory linking APT29 (also known as, ‘the Dukes’ or ‘Cozy Bear’) to attacks against COVID-19 vaccine development in Canada, the US and the UK. The Advisory stated that APT29 is “almost certainly part of the Russian intelligence services.” APT29/Cozy Bear was […]
‘Schrems II’ backs the European legal regime into a corner — How can it get out?
On July 16, the Court of Justice of the European Union struck down the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield in the ‘Schrems 2.0’ Case (Facebook Ireland and Schrems (Case C-311/18)). In an article for the International Association of Privacy Professionals, Alston & Bird Senior Counsel Peter Swire analyzes the decision and discusses potential implications, including those relating […]
Schrems 2.0: CJEU invalidates EU-US Privacy Shield and emphasizes exporter obligations when using Standard Contractual Clauses
Executive Summary Today, the Court of Justice of the European Union (‘CJEU’) handed down its long-awaited judgment in the ‘Schrems 2.0’ case (Facebook Ireland and Schrems (Case C-311/18)), about the validity of two means of legitimizing transfers of personal data outside the EEA under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (‘GDPR’)[1]. In somewhat of a […]