On December 15, 2015, following four years of close, sometimes contentious, review, the EU institutions agreed upon the text of the General Data Protection Regulation (the “GDPR”). One of the most important EU legislative initiatives in recent years, the GDPR is also a landmark in privacy regulation worldwide. As from the time the GDPR takes […]
Regulation
FTC and FCC Sign Consumer Protection MOU
Since 2014, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has engaged in an increasing number of privacy and data security enforcement actions. The scope of the Commission’s jurisdiction over carriers has also dramatically increased – at least temporarily – following its recent net neutrality order, which reclassified broadband Internet access service as a telecommunications service under Title […]
Updated Schrems ECJ / Safe Harbor Ruling FAQs
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 […]
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 […]