Incident Response

Subscribe to Incident Response via RSS

South Carolina has become the first state to enact a version of the Insurance Data Security Model Law, which was drafted by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) in 2017. Governor Henry McMaster signed the South Carolina Insurance Data Security Act into law on May 14, 2018. The Act will become effective on January 1, 2019.

South Carolina Insurance Director Raymond G. Farmer chaired the NAIC Cybersecurity Working Group that drafted the model law. The South Carolina Act appears to follow the Model Law closely, and bears similarities to cybersecurity laws and regulations enacted in other states and at the federal level – including the New York Department of Financial Services cybersecurity regulations, the new Alabama data breach law, and HIPAA/HITECH data security/breach notification requirements.
Continue Reading  South Carolina Enacts First Insurance Data Security Act

You can log into your account worldwide!

The fallout from the Yahoo data breaches continues to illustrate how cyberattacks thrust companies into the competing roles of crime victim, regulatory enforcement target and civil litigant.

Yahoo, which is now known as Altaba, recently became the first public company to be fined ($35 million) by the Securities and Exchange Commission for filing statements that failed to disclose known data breaches. This is on top of the $80 million federal securities class action settlement that Yahoo reached in March 2018—the first of its kind based on a cyberattack. Shareholder derivative actions remain pending in state courts, and consumer data breach class actions have survived initial motions to dismiss and remain consolidated in California for pre-trial proceedings. At the other end of the spectrum, a federal judge has balked at the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) request that a hacker-for-hire indicted in the Yahoo attacks be sentenced to eight years in prison for a digital crime spree that dates back to 2010.
Continue Reading  The Hacked & the Hacker-for-Hire: Lessons from the Yahoo Data Breaches (So Far)

The ACC Foundation will be hosting a second webcast on May 1, 2018 at 12:00 EDT to discuss the results of the Foundation’s State of Cybersecurity Report.  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…

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

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

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey has unveiled a new, “easier and more efficient” way to notify her office of data breaches. The Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office has created an online portal and web form for submitting data breach notifications.  An email announcing the changes was transmitted this week to attorneys who have previously filed data breach notices on behalf of clients. The email requested our “assistance in passing the message along,” which we are hereby doing.

Attorney General Healey stated, “This new feature allows businesses to more efficiently report data breaches so we can take action and share information with the public.”  The Attorney General Office’s website will soon include a publicly accessible database of data breaches reported to the Office. Other states, including California and Maryland, have similar public databases.

Continue Reading  Massachusetts Attorney General Launches Online Data Breach Reporting Portal

Time

Add South Dakota (site of Ballard’s newest office) and North Carolina to the list of states considering new data security legislation. South Dakota is poised to become the 49th state to enact a data breach notification law, while North Carolina is considering a very significant expansion of its existing law.

Will South Dakota Become No. 49?

The South Dakota Senate passed SB 62 on January 25, 2018. The bill, which now heads to the South Dakota House of Representatives, generally would require an “information holder” to notify South Dakota residents of any “breach of system security” involving their “personal or protected information.” Subject to certain exceptions, notification to South Dakota residents must be made “not later than sixty days from the discovery or notification of the breach of system security.” The South Dakota Attorney General and “all consumer reporting agencies as defined in 15 U.S.C. § 1681a” also must be notified of breaches involving more than 250 South Dakota residents. Notification to South Dakota residents is not required “if following appropriate investigation and notice to the attorney general, the information holder reasonably determines that the breach will not likely result in harm to the affected person.”
Continue Reading  South Dakota and North Carolina Consider New Data Security Legislation

With the New Year comes new data breach compliance obligations! Two Mid-Atlantic states have cybersecurity related compliance statutes that have – or will soon – take effect. Are you ready?

New Year’s Day ushered into effect the amended Maryland Personal Information Protection Act, which expands the definition of “personal information,” creates a 45-day deadline for providing notice of a breach, allows for substitute service when the breach enables an individual’s e-mail to be accessed, and increases the class of information subject to Maryland’s destruction of records laws. To the customary litany of data elements comprising “personal information,” Maryland has added personal health and health insurance information, biometric data, online account credentials and passport/government ID numbers. The amended data destruction provision now applies to customer and employee/former employee records containing personal information. See our prior alert detailing the amendments here.
Continue Reading  New 2018 Data Breach Compliance Obligations Begin Going into Effect