The Arizona Legislature has significantly expanded and strengthened the state’s data breach notification law. The legislation was signed by Arizona Governor Doug Ducey on April 11, 2018.

Members of Ballard Spahr’s Privacy and Data Security Group will host a webinar on Wednesday, April 25, 2018, at noon PT/1 p.m. MT/3 p.m. ET to provide in-depth analysis of the new law and place it into context with similar legislation enacted by other states over the past few months. Visit www.ballardspahr.com/AZwebinar to register and for more information.

Below we discuss the most notable changes:

Continue Reading Arizona Strengthens and Expands Data Breach Notification Law

The ACC Foundation will be hosting a webcast on April 18, 2018 at 12:00 EDT to discuss the preliminary results of the Foundation’s State of Cybersecurity Report.  This is the second Report of its kind that the ACC Foundation has published.  You can sign up for the webcast here.

The Report surveyed 600 in-house counsel from around the world on a range of cybersecurity issues including data breach response, information security standards, GDPR preparation, vendor management and cyberinsurance.  The Report provides valuable cybersecurity benchmarking in a range of industries and identifies hot button issues for in-house counsel with responsibility for managing their company’s cybersecurity programs to consider.

Ballard Spahr served as a sponsor for the Report (as it did in 2015 for the first Report).  Phil Yannella, co-chair of Ballard’s Privacy & Data Security Group, served on the Advisory Board for the Report and will participate in the webcast.

 

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has reinstated a data breach class action filed against Barnes & Noble (B&N).  The litigation, styled as Dieffenbach v. Barnes & Noble, Inc., now heads back to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, which previously dismissed the complaint three times for lack of standing and/or failure to state a claim.

The lawsuit stems from a September 2012 data breach in which “skimmers” gained access to the payment card readers in B&N stores and siphoned off customer names, payment card numbers, expiration dates, and PINs.  “Skimming” is an ‘old school’ hacking technique involving tampering with the PIN pad terminals to exfiltrate the payment card data that runs through them when a card is swiped.  Payment card data was skimmed from PIN terminals in 63 B&N stores, located in 9 states. Continue Reading Seventh Circuit Reinstates Barnes & Noble Data Breach Class Action

Plaintiff lawyers’ continued search for damage theories to assert in claims arising from a data breach – or fear of a breach – received a potential setback this week when Chief Judge Michael Reagan of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois permitted Fiat Chrysler and Harmon International to seek an interlocutory appeal of the court’s earlier ruling in Flynn v. Fiat Chrysler US that class plaintiffs had standing to bring their “car hacking” claims in federal court.  The ruling comes just one month before the scheduled start of trial. Fiat Chrysler and Harmon moved for an appeal after the Ninth Circuit ruled in a similar case, Cahen v. Toyota Motor Corp, that plaintiffs did not have standing to pursue diminution in value damages against Toyota based on a fear that the vehicles were susceptible to hacking.   Continue Reading Fiat Chrysler Car Hacking Case Put In Neutral

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) recently announced that it will hold a hearing on May 16, 2018, to receive information on potential hazards with Internet of Things (IoT) products.

In its public notice, the CPSC explained that the “purpose of the public hearing . . . is to provide interested stakeholders a venue to discuss potential safety hazards created by a consumer product’s connection to IoT or other network-connected devices; the types of hazards (e.g., electrical, thermal, mechanical, chemical) related to the intended, unintended, or foreseeable misuse of consumer products because of an IoT connection; current standards development; industry best practices; and the proper role of the CPSC in addressing potential safety hazards with IoT-related products.” The notice also clarifies that the hearing “will not address personal data security or privacy implications of IoT devices.”

So why does this matter? 

Continue Reading Data Security Litigation: CPSC to Hold Hearing on The Internet of Things and Consumer Product Hazards

The virtual world offers opportunities and obligations not found in nature.

For a couple of years, my wife has followed the adventures of a bonded eagle couple, Liberty and Freedom, residing in the hills near Hanover, Pennsylvania. A strategically positioned webcam offers a round-the-clock view of nesting activities. Last year the pair hatched two eggs and cared for the eaglets until they fledged.

This year, it appears as if calamity struck. Liberty has disappeared, and a new female, Lucy, has taken her place in the nest, destroying one of the eggs. Although the other egg remains in the nest, it is widely believed that the disturbance has rendered it unviable and that it will not hatch. It is possible that Lucy fought with the older Liberty and killed her.  The body has not been found.  It is also possible that Freedom and Lucy will now bond, but most viewers do not expect them to produce eggs this year.

In the virtual world, health care providers, health plans, health care clearinghouses, and their business associates have a responsibility to protect the treasured asset of individually identifiable information from predators and other dangers. But unlike eggs, which cannot be recovered if stolen or damaged, data is retrievable. Continue Reading Springtime for HIPAA

In March, we reported that the Oregon legislature was considering amending its data breach notification and information security laws. That legislation has now passed the Oregon legislature and been signed into law by Oregon’s governor.  A copy of the new law is available here. The most notable changes are as follows:

Continue Reading Oregon Amends Data Breach Notification and Information Security Laws

Alabama has officially joined the data breach notification party. Alabama Governor Kay Ivey signed Act No. 2018-396 into law on March 28, 2018. The law will take effect on June 1, 2018. Although it was last in the country to enact such a data security law, Alabama’s new law will immediately take its place among the most stringent in the nation.

The Alabama law generally can be categorized into four obligations:

  • All entities subject to the law (covered entities and third-party agents) must “implement and maintain reasonable security measures to protect sensitive personally identifying information against a breach of security.”
  • A “covered entity shall conduct a good faith and prompt investigation” into “a breach of security that has or may have occurred in relation to sensitive personally identifying information.”
  • A covered entity must notify each affected Alabama resident, and a third-party agent must notify the covered entity, of a “breach of security involving sensitive personally identifying information;”
  • A covered entity must notify the Alabama Attorney General and credit reporting agencies of a breach involving more than 1,000 Alabama residents.

Continue Reading Alabama Becomes 50th State to Enact Data Breach Notification Law

With the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) set to go into effect on May 25, 2018, many questions remain as to what entities that control and process data from EU citizens must do to comply. One such issue is the ongoing effort by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to ensure that the WHOIS service (an online database of identity and contact information for registrants of web domains) complies with GDPR. Continue Reading GDPR And The Future of WHOIS Data

South Dakota (site of Ballard’s newest office) has become the 49th State to enact a data breach notification law.  South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard signed SB 62 into law on March 21, 2018.  The law will take effect on July 1, 2018.

As with similar measures pending in other state legislatures, SB 62 was introduced in the South Dakota Senate on January 9, 2018, in the wake of the disclosures relating to the Equifax breaches. The law generally mirrors those of many other states, but includes a few new wrinkles. Continue Reading South Dakota Enacts Data Breach Notification Law