New York Attorney General Letitia James recently announced two agreements related to data breaches with entities that operate in the education industry. In both instances the entities paid the ransom and received evidence of deletion of the stolen data. Most recently, on October 5, 2023 the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) announced a $49.5 […]
National Security & Digital Crimes
Penn State University Hit With False Claims Act Suit for Alleged Cyber Security Deficiencies
On September 1, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania unsealed a qui tam False Claims Act (“FCA”) lawsuit (originally filed on October 5, 2022) alleging Penn State University failed to provide “adequate security” for Covered Defense Information, as contractually required by Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (“DFARS”) 252.204-7012. DFARS requires […]
Chinese Hackers Exploit Gap in Cloud Environment Used by U.S. Government
According to recent reports issued by Microsoft and U.S. government agencies, hackers recently exploited a gap in Microsoft’s cloud environment, enabling the malicious actors to access the email accounts of employees at the United States Commerce and State Departments. Including the U.S. government, around 10 organizations were victimized in the U.S. and about 25 were […]
CL0P Ransomware Gang’s Exploitation of MOVEit Vulnerability: What It Means for Companies
On June 7, 2023, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released a Joint Cybersecurity Advisory in connection with a recent zero-day (or previously undetected) vulnerability in Progress Software’s managed file transfer software (MOVEit Transfer), exploited by the CL0P ransomware group. CL0P publicly claimed responsibility for exploiting the […]
China’s Standard Contractual Clauses for Cross-Border Transfers of Personal Information
On February 24, 2023, the Cyberspace Administration of China (“CAC”) released its final version of the Standard Contract Measures for Exporting Personal Information (“Standard Contract Measures”), accompanied by a template contract outlining the standard contractual clauses (the “PIPL SCCs”). The Standard Contract Measures are effective June 1, 2023, however, organizations transferring personal information outside of […]