DataSecurityLaw.com is the firm’s resource for the latest news, analysis, and thought leadership in the critical area of privacy and cybersecurity law. Patterson Belknap’s Privacy and Data Security practice provides public and private enterprises, their leadership teams and boards with comprehensive services in this critical area. Our team of experienced litigators, corporate advisors and former federal and state prosecutors advises on a broad range of privacy and data protection matters including cyber preparedness and compliance, data breach response, special board and committee representation, internal investigations, and litigation.
Today, New York’s top financial regulator, the Department of Financial Services, announced the formation of a dedicated “Cybersecurity Division.” In a news release issued earlier today, the agency said the new division “will focus on protecting consumers and industries from cyber threats ….”
It’s been almost two years since New York’s top banking regulator implemented one of the nation’s most stringent cybersecurity regulations. Since then, thousands of financial institutions have recruited chief information security officers, implemented cybersecurity programs, performed penetration testing, and imposed encryption requirements on their most sensitive information.
With full implementation of New York’s groundbreaking cybersecurity regulation only six weeks away, the state’s top banking regulator took the opportunity to praise the many financial institutions that have adopted systems to better protect consumers from cybercrime.
Yesterday, by e-mail and on its website, the California Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it would hold “six statewide forums to collect feedback” in advance of the rulemaking process for the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). The announcement did not include proposed rules or regulations, which must be adopted by July 1, 2020.
With the year quickly coming to a close, it’s time for organizations covered by New York’s Cybersecurity Regulation for Financial Service Companies to take stock of their compliance efforts before popping any champagne corks to usher in the New Year.
Late last week, the Office of Civil Rights for the Department of Health and Human Services (OCR) announced a $16 million settlement with health-insurance company Anthem, Inc. The settlement amount is nearly three times larger than any prior settlement with the OCR.
Last week, MGM Resorts International filed nine pre-emptive lawsuits against the victims of last year’s mass shooting at the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas. MGM, owner of the Mandalay, is asking federal courts around the country to declare that the company is not liable “for any claim for injuries arising out of or related to” the mass attack.
Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court’s approval of a $17 million settlement between Target Corp. and consumers whose credit card data was compromised in the 2013 data breach. In one of the largest data breaches to hit U.S. retailers, hackers stole information from 40 million credit and debit cards during the 2013 holiday season.
Over the last year, U.S. companies have been hit with a wave of new data security regulations and agency guidance, ranging from the SEC’s Guidance on Public Company Cybersecurity Disclosures to the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Last week, the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) sent notices to companies that had not yet certified their compliance with the DFS Cybersecurity Regulation. DFS not-so-gently reminds companies to submit a Notice of Exemption or a Certificate of Compliance. A copy of that notice is now available online.
Today, financial institutions with ties to New York are spending their Valentine’s Day learning how to use the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) web portal.
Almost a year ago, the DFS unveiled one of the most aggressive efforts in the nation to crack down on cybercrime in the banking and insurance industries. And by tomorrow, more than 3,000 firms are required to file through the agency’s online portal their first ever compliance certificate, swearing that their organization has satisfied the first phase of requirements under the state’s new cybersecurity regulation.
At the end of last year, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) adopted an Insurance Data Security Model Law. The “purpose and intent” of the law is to “establish[] standards for data security and investigation and notification of data security applicable to insurance providers.”
For the several thousand financial institutions and insurance companies covered by New York’s landmark data security regulation, the first certification of compliance must be filed with the State’s Department of Financial Services in less than a month.
Yesterday, a federal district court in Arizona denied in part and granted in part Banner Health’s motion to dismiss class action claims arising from a 2016 data breach.
Yesterday, a District Court in Northern California weighed in on the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) authority to protect consumers from “unfair” and “deceptive” data security practices. The decision, which granted in part and denied in part the defendant’s motion to dismiss, is a mixed bag for the Commission.
Yesterday, New York’s top financial regulator asked state-chartered banks and insurers to take immediate precautions to protect consumers and the financial markets “in light of the cybersecurity attack” at Equifax Inc.
Today, New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced that he has directed the Department of Financial Services (DFS) to issue a new regulation requiring “credit reporting agencies to register with” the DFS, as well as comply with the Department’s “first-in-the-nation cybersecurity standard.” According to Governor Cuomo, the Equifax breach was a “wakeup call,” and New York is now “raising the bar for consumer protections” with the “hope” the DFS’s approach “will be replicated across the nation.”
As we have discussed in previous posts, Equifax Inc. suffered a cybersecurity breach potentially affecting 143 million individuals in the United States. Although Equifax’s investigation is ongoing, the data at risk includes Social Security numbers, birth dates, and addresses. Equifax has also said that the breach may have involved driver’s license numbers, credit card numbers, and “certain dispute documents with personal identifying information for approximately 182,000 U.S. consumers.” That leaves just about everyone asking: What should we do?
Banks, insurance companies and other financial institutions have only a few days left to comply with the first wave of requirements under New York’s controversial new cybersecurity regulation.
Companies subject to New York’s Department of Financial Services (DFS) new cybersecurity regulation should be preparing to comply with the first round of requirements by the upcoming August 28th deadline: enacting a cybersecurity program and policies, implementing user access privileges, designating a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), employing qualified personnel, and implementing an incident response plan.
New York’s Department of Financial Services (DFS) has issued additional guidance for compliance with the state’s sweeping cybersecurity regulation that went into effect earlier this year. Companies covered by the regulation must comply with the first round of requirements by August 28th.
In our series of posts leading up to the August 28th deadline for the first phase of requirements under New York’s cybersecurity regulation, the Patterson Belknap team looks at issues that institutions face as they implement the new rules.
In complying with the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) cybersecurity regulation, financial institutions have a choice. They can either employ “continuous monitoring” or, instead, conduct annual “penetration testing” and bi-annual “vulnerability assessments.”
A new survey by the Ponemon Institute reports that less than half of the financial institutions covered by New York’s sweeping new cybersecurity regulation say they will “likely” meet next February’s compliance deadline. And even more stunning is the fact that only 13% of those institutions surveyed reported “with certainty” that they would be in full compliance with the regulation by next year.
In our series of posts leading up to the August 28th deadline for the first phase of requirements under New York’s cybersecurity regulation, the Patterson Belknap team looks at issues that institutions face as they implement the new rules.
Faced with an approaching August 28th deadline, the more than 3,000 financial institutions that do business in New York should be knee-deep in implementing the first wave of requirements under the State’s sweeping and unprecedented cybersecurity regulation.
Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit vacated the class action settlement between Target Corp. and consumers whose card data was compromised in the company’s 2013 data breach.
Today, the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) announced an “updated” cybersecurity regulation that will go into effect on March 1, 2017. The updated regulation is, in many respects, less stringent than the DFS’s original proposal.
Today, Reuters reported that the New York Department of Financial Services (“DFS”) will delay the effective date of its new cybersecurity regulation. According to a “person familiar with the matter,” the DFS will publish a new version of the cyber security regulation on December 28, 2016, and the effective date for the rule will now be March 1, 2017.
Yesterday, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) announced a settlement with the owners of “dating site” AshleyMadison.com, arising from a July 2015 data breach that received broad media coverage. According to a proposed order filed in the District Court for the District of Columbia, the operators of the website are also simultaneously settling with thirteen states—including New York—and the District of Columbia.
This is our final installment in a three-part series examining the New York State Department of Financial Services (“DFS”) new cybersecurity regulation. In this installment, we provide an overview of the regulation’s impact on third-party vendors and business partners, including law firms.
This is our second installment in a three-part series examining the New York State Department of Financial Services (“DFS”) new cybersecurity regulation. In this installment, we provide an overview of the regulation’s impact on corporate governance and the scope of liability for corporate boards.
This is the first installment in a three-part series examining the New York State Department of Financial Services (“DFS”) new cybersecurity regulation. The Patterson Belknap Privacy and Data Security Team has studied the regulation, its legislative and regulatory underpinnings, and practical consequences.
Banner Health recently announced that hackers may have gained “unauthorized access to patient information” and “payment card data” from approximately 3.7 million patients, health plan members, food and beverage customers, and physicians. The breach has been reported as the largest for a hospital in 2016.
Last week, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) and the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) provided guidance on an open question in the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (“CISA”): What type of information may companies share under CISA?
Today, the U.S. Supreme Court decided one of the Term’s most closely watched cases: Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins. The 6-2 decision, while far from sweeping, creates a hurdle for plaintiffs in “no-injury” class actions.
Yesterday, the Seventh Circuit held in Lewart v. P.F. Chang’s that customers who may have had personal information compromised in a P.F. Chang’s data breach have standing, at the motion-to-dismiss stage, to sue the company. Given the Seventh Circuit’s 2015 opinion in Remijas v. Neiman Marcus, which involved similar facts, the decision in Lewart is not particularly surprising.
On February 22, 2016, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) closed the public comment period on its recently proposed enhanced cybersecurity rules for derivatives clearing house organizations, trading platforms, designated contract markets, and swap data repositories.
Today, Target and a class of banks that issued credit cards that were compromised in the Target data breach announced they have reached a $39.4 million settlement.
Earlier this month, the New York State Department of Financial Services (“DFS”) announced that it will propose new cybersecurity regulations for financial institutions. The DFS made the announcement in a letter to the Financial and Banking Information Infrastructure Committee — an eighteen member organization headed by the Treasury Department that has already begun tackling cybersecurity issues.
