Archives: Data Breach

Indiana Business Owners May Now Face Million Dollar Lawsuits From Data Breach Victims

By William C. Wagner on January 24, 2019 Posted in Data Breach

The Indiana Attorney General recently asserted a novel claim under the Indiana Deceptive Consumer Sales Act that, if successful, opens the door for data breach victims to file class action lawsuits and recover $500 or more per person in statutory damages and attorney’s fees. Damages can add up fast as a data breach involving 2,000 people could result in $1,000,000 in damages, not including attorney’s fees. Data breaches may also result in a lawsuit by the Attorney General for civil … Read More

Yet Another Facebook Breach: Use this opportunity to get smart about your online privacy and security

By Brian Eaton and Scot Ganow on October 16, 2018 Posted in Data Breach

The struggles continue for Facebook. As you hopefully know by now, on Sept. 28, the social media giant announced a security breach affecting 50 million accounts. The breach involved the theft of password tokens that allow a user to stay signed in or to sign into numerous third party applications, such as Spotify, Instagram and Yelp, among thousands of others. We thought to take the opportunity with this most recent breach to remind you about best practices that can help … Read More

Don’t Be Too Big for Your Breaches! Why Encrypted Data Can Be the Best Way to Avoid a Data “Breach”

By Scot Ganow on July 23, 2018 Posted in Data Breach

Taft summer associate Jordan Jennings-Moore contributed to this article.

In today’s world, very few people remain completely unscathed by a data breach somewhere. From Target, to Anthem, Wendy’s or Equifax, individuals across the country have grown accustomed to getting breach notification letters. Most recently, Alabama and South Dakota became the last two jurisdictions in the United States to adopt data breach notification laws. This means that any person or entity conducting business in the U.S. must be … Read More

Alabama Rolls with Tide as Last State to Adopt Breach Notification Law

By Zachary Heck on April 30, 2018 Posted in Data Breach

On March 28, 2018, over sixteen years after California passed the nation’s first data breach notification law, Alabama became the fiftieth, and final, state to join the club. As a result, any person or entity conducting business in the United States must be prepared to safeguard personal identifying information belonging to customers, clients, and employees, while also being ready to comply with all applicable state and federal laws and regulations.

What Data?
The Alabama Data Breach Notification Act of 2018 … Read More

Data Protection: Key Takeaways for Consumers and Businesses After the Facebook and Cambridge Analytica Scandal

By Scot Ganow on March 26, 2018 Posted in Data Breach, Privacy Policy

In a local news interview, I was recently asked to comment on the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica story involving the unauthorized use of Facebook user profile information by Cambridge Analytica for profiling and targeting purposes. The focus of the interview was what consumers can do to better protect themselves. However, there are learning opportunities for businesses too. Here are some quick points to consider for both parties.

Consumers

Your choices matter most. I beat this drum pretty heavily, but it is

Join us for a Data Breach Response Event in Indianapolis on Feb. 21

By Taft Law on January 31, 2018 Posted in Data Breach

Join Taft and Sikich for an informational session on Feb. 21 as two of our professionals share their experiences before and during a data breach and share their insights in the hopes of helping you better prepare for and survive a data breach. Register here.

Schedule:
3:30 – 4:00pm Registration & Networking
4:00 – 5:00pm Presentation
5:00 – 6:00pm Networking, drinks & hors d’oeuvres

Presenters:

Scot Ganow, Senior Counsel – Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP
Scot is co-chair of … Read More

Just Chill: Why the Credit Security Freeze May be Your Best Defense in the Data Breach Era

By Scot Ganow on December 26, 2017 Posted in Data Breach

With this year’s high profile breach at a large consumer reporting agency and credit cards ringing up balances during this holiday season, I have been fielding numerous calls from people in both a professional and personal capacity on what they should be doing to “truly” protect their identity and their credit accounts. I often find myself reiterating some of the basics of the laws in place to protect you and to empower you to safeguard your credit information. So, I … Read More

Addressing Data Breaches During Due Diligence – What is a Buyer (and Seller) to do?

By Taft Law on November 28, 2017 Posted in Data Breach

Taft Business & Finance attorneys Jim Butz and Caroline Thee recently published an article on data breaches becoming increasingly problematic during the due diligence stage of transactions. The article addresses what a buyer (and a seller) should do when investigating a target’s exposure to unauthorized access to data or other proprietary information. Read the article here.… Read More

What should I be doing to better manage the risk of a data breach?

By Scot Ganow on November 22, 2017 Posted in Data Breach

As we gather at this time of year to express our gratitude for those people and things most important in our lives, perhaps one of the things on that list at work is that you have not suffered through a security incident or breach this past year, or ever. Indeed, this is reason to be thankful! However, when it comes to privacy and security incidents, it is not a matter of IF but WHEN. So be grateful for your good … Read More

Cybersecurity: An Affirmative Defense to Ohio Data Breach Negligence Claims

By William C. Wagner and Scot Ganow on November 15, 2017 Posted in Cyber Security, Data Breach, NIST Guide, Uncategorized

Ohio is poised to lead the nation by incentivizing businesses to implement certain cybersecurity controls, which can be an affirmative defense to a data breach claim based on negligence. Under the proposed legislation, if a business is sued for negligently failing to implement reasonable information security controls resulting in a data breach, the business can assert its compliance with the cybersecurity control as an affirmative defense at trial.

For years we have counseled our clients to implement a comprehensive data … Read More

Delaware Data Breach Law: What to Know

By Brian Eaton on August 24, 2017 Posted in Data Breach

Delaware has joined a growing number of states in updating and strengthening its data breach law. The new law expands the definition of what is considered personal information, requires companies to “implement and maintain reasonable security” for personal information in their possession, institutes a 60-day deadline for reporting the breach and mandates one year of free credit monitoring should a social security number be included in the breach. If your company has customers within the state of Delaware here a … Read More

St. Louis Cardinals Hacking Scandal: A Real-World Example of the Importance of Password Management

By Brian Eaton on February 1, 2017 Posted in Cyber Security, Data Breach

The saga surrounding the St. Louis Cardinals hacking scandal concluded with the issuance of a final punishment from MLB. The scandal stemmed from the actions of the former Cardinals scouting director Chris Correa, after he illegally accessed the e-mail accounts of members of the Houston Astros front office as well as their scouting database. The Cardinals were ordered to forfeit their top two selections in the upcoming 2017 amateur draft to the Astros and pay them two million dollars within … Read More

OCR Penalizes Slow Data Breach Response

By Brian Eaton on January 13, 2017 Posted in Data Breach, HIPAA

The Office of Civil Rights (OCR) first HIPAA settlement of 2017 is based on a failure to report a breach of health information in a timely manner. The settlement was reached with Presence Health, a large health care network that operates in approximately 150 locations in Illinois. Presence Health has agreed to settle the potential violations by paying a fine of $475,000 and implementing a corrective action plan to deal with this problem in the future.

The settlement stems from … Read More

Real-Life Attacks On Business & What You Can Do To Deter A Cybercriminal – Event September 7

By Caryn Kaufman on September 1, 2016 Posted in Breach Detection, Cyber Security, Data Breach, data privacy, Phishing attack, Privacy Policy

To effectively guard against an enemy of any kind it’s important to know your enemy. This strategy is just as effective when fighting an online battle to protect your company’s data.

Before you can effectively defend against cyberattacks, it is important to educate yourself on potential threats and how to handle them. We invite you to join us on September 7 for part two of the Columbus Cybersecurity Series featuring FBI agent David Fine returns. During this portion of the … Read More

Cyber Insurance: Travelers Required to Defend Healthcare Records Storage Company From Class Actions

By William C. Wagner on April 13, 2016 Posted in Cyber Insurance, Cyber Security, Data Breach

Savvy in-house counsel and business owners terms often ask are whether the insurers selling cyber policies actually pay claims or whether the policyholders are just buying the right to later sue the insurers for coverage. The initial wave of cyber insurance litigation involved policyholders trying to obtain coverage for data breaches under their standard commercial general liability policies. This produced mixed results with some courts finding coverage, while others did not. The next wave of cyber insurance litigation involved policyholders asserting … Read More

Will the New DoD Cybersecurity Regulations Cause a New Wave of Protest Disputes?

By Barbara Duncombe and William C. Wagner on February 24, 2016 Posted in Breach Detection, Cyber Security, Data Breach, data privacy, Department of Defense, Government Contractors, Government investigation, NIST Guide

The new DoD cybersecurity regulations require contractors to implement the security requirements specified by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Special Publication (SP) 800-171, “Protecting Controlled Unclassified Information in Nonfederal Information Systems and Organizations,” not later than Dec. 31, 2017. DFARS, 252.204-7008(c)(1).

However, a contractor may propose to vary from the NIST SP 800-171 requirements under two circumstances. Under DFARS 252.204-7008(c)(2), a contractor may propose to vary from the security requirements specified by NIST SP 800-171 through a … Read More

Data Breach Victims Have No Legal Remedies Under Indiana Law

By William C. Wagner on February 22, 2016 Posted in Anthem, Data Breach, data privacy

Indiana law does not grant consumers the right to sue Anthem or any other data base owner for negligence following a data breach, according to the federal judge presiding over the Anthem data breach multi-district litigation. Order, In re Anthem, Inc. Data Breach Litig., No. 15-MD-2617 (N.D. Cal. Feb. 14, 2016).

Instead, Indiana law grants consumers only the right to be notified of the data breach without unreasonable delay. Indiana Code § 24-4.9-3-1. If notice is not properly given, … Read More

Webinar Replay Now Available on the New Defense Department Cybersecurity Rules

By William C. Wagner and Barbara Duncombe on February 11, 2016 Posted in Cyber Security, Data Breach, data privacy, Department of Defense, Government Contractors, Government investigation, NIST Guide

The U.S. Department of Defense published its Network Penetration Reporting and Cloud Computing Services regulations as an interim rule in August 2015 and updated them in December 2015. Watch this new webinar replay at your convenience to learn about the regulations, how they may impact your business, and the concerns of industry groups. Click HERE to watch the webinar in its entirety.

Cyber Insurance Buyer’s Guide

By William C. Wagner on December 2, 2015 Posted in Cyber Insurance, Data Breach, Government investigation

You need cyber insurance to protect your organization from the potentially-devastating financial harm that often follows a data breach, and to protect your brand and guard your reputation. Cyber insurance can help your organization survive a breach and pay the cost to notify customers of the breach and offer them credit monitoring services, defend your organization from class action lawsuits by customers, banks / credit card companies, and shareholders, and defend government investigations and enforcement proceedings. There are no standard-form … Read More

Privacy vs. Security

By Taft Law on November 10, 2015 Posted in Data Breach, data privacy, Personally Identifiable Information

The terms data privacy and data security are sometimes swapped back and forth as though they mean the same thing. They don’t, though they are tightly interlocked.

One way to consider how they’re different is to think of data privacy as the who and what of confidential information that must be kept safe and data security as the how, the means for keeping it safe.

Put another way, data privacy focuses on the individual whose private information is at … Read More

Financial Institutions Warned of Increased Cyber Attacks Involving Extortion

By William C. Wagner on November 3, 2015 Posted in Breach Detection, Cyber Security, Data Breach

The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIED) warned financial institutions of the increasing frequency and severity of cyber attacks involving extortion resulting from ransomeware, denial of service attacks, and theft of sensitive business and customer information to extort payment and other concessions from victims.

The FFIEC recommends that financial institutions develop and implement programs to ensure that the institutions are able to identify, protect, detect, respond to, and recover from these types of attacks, including:

Conducting ongoing information security risk

Top Five Privacy Risks in Web Applications

By Taft Law on October 28, 2015 Posted in Breach Detection, Cyber Security, Data Breach, Identity theft

The Web hosts a vast array of applications, many of them critical for business operations, from office suites such as Google Docs, to email, calculators, spread sheets and data storage.

Nearly all mobile applications connect to the cloud, storing private business information, user names, passwords and other sensitive content. Employees tie into the Web with mobile device apps such as Google Maps, LinkedIn and Wink, which allows users to see from afar who is ringing the home doorbell or lets … Read More