As anticipated, President Trump nominated Rebecca Slaughter, Chief Counsel to Senator Charles Schumer, for the FTC’s fifth vacant commissioner slot. Ms. Slaughter identified the following items as the top three challenges facing the FTC:
Continue reading “Tabula Rasa: President Nominates Fifth FTC Commissioner”
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) obtained a court order freezing more than $27 million in proceeds from alleged illegal distributions and sales of restricted shares of a public company , and charged the company, its CEO, and three other affiliated individuals on April 6, 2018. That same day, the Nasdaq Stock Market halted trading in the company’s stock.
The SEC’s complaint alleges that shortly after the company began trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market and announced the acquisition of a purported blockchain-empowered cryptocurrency business, its stock price rose dramatically until its market capitalization exceeded $3 billion. The SEC further alleges that the CEO and the three other individual defendants then illegally sold large blocks of their restricted shares to the public while the stock price was excessively elevated and that they collectively reaped more than $27 million in profits.
Continue reading “SEC Freezes $27 Million Related to a Blockchain/Cryptocurrency Acquisition”
South Dakota and Alabama are the last of the 50 states to have enacted breach notification laws, along with Washington, D.C., Guam, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. South Dakota became the 49th state to enact a data breach notification law when Governor Dennis Daugaard signed Senate Bill 62 into law on March 21. It goes into effect on July 1, 2018. On March 28, 2018, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey signed into law Alabama Senate Bill 318, effective May 1, 2018. Below are the parameters of these new data breach notification laws.
Continue reading “Data Breach Notification Laws Now Enacted in All 50 States”
The draft bill, “Data Acquisition and Technology Accountability and Security Act,” has led 32 state attorneys general to release a letter urging Congress to avoid preempting state data breach and data security laws.
On February 16, 2018, Representatives Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO) and Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) introduced the draft bill in the House of Representatives, which would establish, (i) sweeping standards for data protection across various industries, (ii) federal post-data breach notification requirements, and (iii) establish a process that covered entities must follow to notify law enforcement, regulators, and victims following different types of data breaches.
New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced a $575,000 settlement with EmblemHealth and its subsidiary, Group Health Incorporated, (together, “EmblemHealth”) after EmblemHealth admitted a mailing error that resulted in the disclosure of 81,122 social security numbers. EmblemHealth is one of the largest health plans in the United States.
The Information Governance Initiative (IGI) recently released its third annual “State of Information Governance” report . Highlights include a sharp rise in IG projects underway and a shift toward organizations deriving value out of properly stored data. Indeed, nearly twice as many respondents (176percent of prior-year baseline) indicated that they are extracting business value from their information.
While external factors to include data breaches and data privacy regulations largely drive IG projects, there is mounting internal pressure to reduce storage costs, limit exposure to potential data breaches, and consolidate data. IGI found that respondents overwhelmingly agreed that information governance is an essential component of internal and external cybersecurity.
Below are key takeaways from the report, including respondent results and IGI’s analysis and recommendations.
