The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit recently affirmed the district court’s dismissal of a putative class action brought by customers of the brokerage firm Scottrade in the wake of an alleged data breach impacting Scottrade in 2013. The named plaintiffs had asserted several contract-based claims against Scottrade, alleging that Scottrade had […]
cybersecurity
Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals Allows Wikimedia Upstream Suit to Proceed
On May 23, 2017, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals issued its opinion on Wikimedia foundation v. NSA/CSS. The Court vacated and remanded the NSA’s previously successful motion to dismiss Wikimedia’s Fourth and First Amendment claims against the NSA’s Upstream surveillance program, while a 2-1 majority upheld the dismissal of the eight other organizations joined […]
President Trump Signs Long-Awaited Cyber Executive Order
On May 11, 2017, President Trump signed a long-awaited executive order on cybersecurity (the “Order”). The Order directs executive agencies to complete a risk management report based on the NIST Cybersecurity Framework (the “Framework”) and also requires the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and other agencies to undertake activities in support of effective cybersecurity risk […]
Outbreak of “WannaCry” and “Wanna Decryptor” Ransomware Affects Companies Across the Globe
On Friday, May 12, companies in countries across the globe witnessed an unprecedented malware outbreak as ransomware labeled “WannaCry” and “Wanna Decryptor” infected a large range of critical systems. The malware exploits a vulnerability in older versions of Microsoft’s Windows, locks the systems it infects, and threatens to delete files unless a bitcoin ransom is […]
European Council Adopts the Network and Information Security Directive
On May 17, 2016, the European Council formally adopted its position at first reading of the Network and Information Security Directive (“NIS Directive”). The objective of the NIS Directive is to increase cooperation between EU Member States on issues of network and information security. Companies subject to the NIS Directive are required to adopt “appropriate […]