Businesses and California consumers are one step closer to understanding what their respective obligations and rights are under the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (the “CCPA”). The CCPA is California’s landmark legislation that seeks to give California consumers the rights to learn about and control certain aspects of how a business handles the personal information that a business collects about them.  It achieves this by requiring businesses to implement certain measures that enable consumers to exercise these rights. For an in-depth discussion of the CCPA more generally, please read our previous posts (here and here).   

Reflecting the movement to toughen data security laws on a state-by-state basis, on July 25, 2019, Governor Cuomo signed into law the Stop Hacks and Improve Electronic Data Security Act (the “SHIELD Act” or the “Act”). The Act amends New York State’s current data breach notification law, which covers breaches

Per our previous post, the European Parliament and the Member States agreed to adopt new rules that would set the standard for protecting whistleblowers across the EU from dismissal, demotion, and other forms of retaliation when they report breaches of various areas of EU law. According to a press

According to a press release issued by the European Commission today, the European Parliament and the Member States have agreed to adopt new rules that set the standard for protecting individuals who blow the whistle on breaches of EU law from dismissal, demotion, and other forms of retaliation. This reform,

The New York Department of Financial Services cybersecurity regulation 23 NYCRR 500 (the “Regulation”) came into effect in March 2017 and established four staggered compliance deadlines for its various requirements.

By the third deadline of September 3, 2018, Covered Entities are required to be in compliance with sections 500.06 (audit trails), 500.08 (application security), 500.13 (limitations on data retention), 500.14(a) (training and monitoring), and 500.15 (encryption of nonpublic information).

On March 21, 2018, South Dakota Governor Daugaard signed S.B. 62, enacting the state’s first data breach notification law, which will go into effect July 1, 2018. Previously, Alabama and South Dakota were the only U.S. states without data breach notification. As of July 2018, Alabama will be the

State financial regulators in Colorado and Vermont recently adopted cybersecurity rules that apply to broker-dealers and investment advisers regulated by those states as well as certain other “securities professionals” in Vermont.

The broad definition of “securities professional” in Vermont’s regulation (“any person providing investment-related services in Vermont”) could include entities that do not generally consider themselves to be regulated by Vermont’s financial regulator.

Colorado’s and Vermont’s cybersecurity rules require covered entities to implement certain practices including: authentication practices for employee access (which could include multi-factor or two-factor authentication), procedures for authenticating client instructions received via electronic communication, and an annual cybersecurity risk assessment. Notably, Vermont’s regulation also requires that covered entities maintain cybersecurity insurance and provide identity restoration services in the event of a breach.

We previously reported on the FCC’s 2016 Privacy Order, “Protecting the Privacy of Customers of Broadband and Other Telecommunications Services” impacting Internet service providers’ data privacy practices and obligations and the corresponding timeline for compliance. Intervening events, however, have made the rules imposed by the 2016 Privacy Order moot. On June 26, 2017, the FCC adopted a new order providing guidance on reinstating the pre-2016 Privacy Order regulations. This order was issued pursuant to a joint resolution of Congress under the Congressional Review Act, signed by the President on April 3, 2017, disapproving the FCC’s 2016 Privacy Order. As a result, the 2016 Privacy Order has “no force or effect.” FCC Chairman, Ajit Pai, stated that the purpose of the new order is to “simply make clear that the privacy rules that were in effect prior to 2016 are once again effective.”