Cybersecurity & Privacy

  • May 17, 2024

    Scammer Cops To SIM Scheme Including $400M Crypto Theft

    A Colorado woman on Thursday pled guilty in D.C. federal court for her part in a SIM swapping scheme that appears to encompass more than $400 million stolen from the now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX.

  • May 17, 2024

    Furniture Co. Says Insurer Wrongly Denied Hacking Coverage

    A Pittsburgh furniture company accused its insurer of bad faith and breach of contract for failing to cover more than $530,000 in losses due to monthslong hacking that began in 2021.

  • May 17, 2024

    Koch-Tied Group Says Transparency Law Offends Federalism

    The Corporate Transparency Act is unconstitutional because it does not regulate interstate commerce yet mandates that state-registered entities disclose personal information, a conservative group affiliated with the billionaire Koch brothers told the Eleventh Circuit on Friday.

  • May 17, 2024

    Utilities Need More Airwaves To Drive Growth, FCC Hears

    Utilities need more spectrum to keep their networks running smoothly as they move toward digitizing the electric grid, which is already under significant strain, a wireless service provider has told the Federal Communications Commission.

  • May 17, 2024

    Ga. OB-GYN Office Says Data Breach Class Action Falls Flat

    An Atlanta OB-GYN practice has urged a Georgia federal judge to dismiss a proposed class suit over a data breach that allegedly impacted the personal and protected health information of tens of thousands of patients, arguing the lead plaintiff has failed to meet the requirements of the Class Action Fairness Act.

  • May 16, 2024

    9th Circ. Won't Let Alexa Users Revive Voice Data Privacy Row

    The Ninth Circuit on Thursday refused to reinstate a proposed class action alleging Amazon's Alexa software illegally collects voice data to target users with advertisements, agreeing with the lower court that the e-commerce giant had clearly disclosed the practice and the plaintiffs hadn't shown they were harmed.

  • May 16, 2024

    Hunter Biden's Suit May Turn On If A Hard Drive Is A Computer

    A California federal judge overseeing Hunter Biden's lawsuit against a former Trump White House aide for accessing data allegedly taken from a copy of Biden's laptop said Thursday that case may hinge on if a hard drive copy qualifies as a "computer" under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.

  • May 16, 2024

    Jolie May Have To Turn Over Her NDAs In Pitt's Winery Suit

    Angelina Jolie may have to disclose many of the nondisclosure agreements she's signed to Brad Pitt's legal team in the former couple's dispute over a multimillion-dollar French winery, a Los Angeles judge said Thursday in a tentative ruling.

  • May 16, 2024

    Clean Energy CEO Gets 6 Years For Forgeries Netting $1.1M

    The CEO of a Pennsylvania clean energy company was sentenced to six years in federal prison for defrauding investors out of $1.1 million and falsifying documents to cover his tracks, federal prosecutors announced Thursday.

  • May 16, 2024

    Prosecutors Say Fake Fortune 500 Workers Funded N. Korea

    The Biden administration alleged that North Korea may have raised $6.8 million to develop nuclear weapons by installing remote information technology workers at Fortune 500 businesses, announcing charges Thursday against two individuals accused of helping agents pose as U.S. employees.

  • May 16, 2024

    SEC Adopts Rules For Uncovering, Reporting Data Breaches

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced the adoption of cybersecurity rules Thursday that will require investment advisers and broker-dealers to put procedures in place for detecting data breaches and for notifying customers when their personal information may have been compromised.

  • May 16, 2024

    AI Study Tool Student Creator Sues Emory Over Suspension

    A student who received a $10,000 prize last year from Emory University for helping to create an artificially intelligent study tool is now suing the university for suspending him on the basis that using the tool could be a violation of the academic honor code.

  • May 16, 2024

    Fired MSU Coach Freed From Suit Over Abuse Accuser's Texts

    A Michigan judge on Thursday tossed a privacy lawsuit against former Michigan State University football coach Mel Tucker over the sharing of text messages from an anti-sexual violence activist who has accused him of sexual harassment.

  • May 16, 2024

    Burger King Franchisee Seeks BIPA Coverage Quick Win

    A Burger King franchisee asked an Illinois federal court to rule that due to precedent and policy ambiguities, its umbrella insurer must defend it in a class action claiming it violated Illinois' Biometric Information Privacy Act by nonconsensually collecting fingerprint data.

  • May 16, 2024

    DC Judge Mulls Dominion's DQ Bid For Pro-Trump Mich. Atty

    Lawyers for Dominion Voting Systems pursuing defamation claims against former Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne fought Thursday to disqualify the Michigan attorney representing him, insisting to a D.C. federal judge that disqualification is the most appropriate remedy for the lawyer's leak of Dominion's confidential discovery documents.

  • May 16, 2024

    Meta Hit With EU Probe Over Child Safety Concerns

    Meta was hit on Thursday with an investigation by the European Commission over concerns its Facebook and Instagram services could promote addictions in children.

  • May 16, 2024

    US Must Produce Emails Between IRS Managers, Docs Leaker

    The government must produce emails between Internal Revenue Service managers and a former contractor who leaked thousands of wealthy people's tax returns, a Florida federal judge has ordered, saying the materials are relevant to a billionaire's case accusing the agency of responsibility for the leak.

  • May 15, 2024

    Arizona AG Lobs Suits Over 'Deceptive' Amazon Practices

    Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes on Wednesday filed a pair of suits claiming that Amazon Prime's cancellation process and other features are deceptive, misleading and have led to higher prices for consumers.

  • May 15, 2024

    Blackbaud Dodges Data Breach Victims' Class Cert. Bid

    A South Carolina federal judge has refused to certify several proposed classes consisting of roughly 1.5 billion patients, donors and other individuals whose personal information was allegedly swept up in a 2020 ransomware attack on software provider Blackbaud Inc., finding that the plaintiffs had failed to show that class members could be easily identified. 

  • May 15, 2024

    SolarWinds Says SEC's Cyber Breach Suit Goes Too Far

    SolarWinds Corp. on Wednesday asked a Manhattan federal judge to throw out the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's suit accusing the enterprise software company of deceiving investors about its lax cybersecurity, which left it open to a Russian hacking campaign.

  • May 15, 2024

    State Farm Can't Dodge TCPA Suit Over Robocalls

    State Farm must face a proposed class action alleging it violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act by using a third-party company to make automated telemarketing calls without prior consent, an Illinois federal judge has ruled, saying the suit states a plausible claim of the insurer's vicarious liability for the robocalls.

  • May 15, 2024

    Flexibility In Info Security Policy May Add Compliance Burden

    New federal guidance for contractors handling sensitive, but unclassified information could introduce confusion and compliance burdens if agencies implement security controls without consulting contractors. 

  • May 15, 2024

    UnitedHealth Concealed DOJ Merger Investigation, Suit Says

    UnitedHealth Group has been hit with a proposed shareholder class action alleging that it failed to disclose that the U.S. Department of Justice had reopened an antitrust investigation into the health insurance giant following its acquisition of a healthcare data company, and that top executives had sold more than $120 million of shares knowing about the investigation before a news report revealed it to the public.

  • May 15, 2024

    En Banc 9th Circ. Will Mull Jurisdiction In Shopify Privacy Suit

    The Ninth Circuit agreed to review en banc a panel's decision dismissing a suit alleging payment processing company Shopify collects shoppers' sensitive information without permission, after the plaintiff argued the full court should hear the case to resolve how to assess personal jurisdiction in online misconduct cases.

  • May 15, 2024

    Anti-Trans Groups Fail To Block Wash. Youth Shelter Law

    A federal judge on Wednesday threw out a lawsuit filed by two anti-transgender groups challenging a Washington state law intended to ensure shelter for teens seeking gender-affirming care or reproductive health services, ruling that speculating on possible injury was not enough to clear a standing hurdle.

Expert Analysis

  • Innodata Suit Highlights 'AI Washing' Liability Risk For Cos.

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    A class action against software company Innodata over so-called AI washing, one of the first of its kind, underscores the litigation and enforcement risks that can arise from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's novel theory about misleading artificial intelligence capabilities, say attorneys at Bracewell.

  • For Now, Generative AI Is Risky For Class Action Counsel

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    Although a recent survey showed most in-house counsel think that their outside counsel should be using generative artificial intelligence "in some way" in class action work, the technology is more a target for class actions than it is a tool to be used in practice at present, says Matthew Allen at Carlton Fields.

  • Steps To Reduce CIPA Litigation Risks For Companies

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    As class action claims brought under the California Invasion of Privacy Act continue to advance new theories under an old law to target companies for commonplace website and app activities, there are steps that organizations can take to reduce exposure and strengthen their defenses against such lawsuits, say attorneys at Hintze Law.

  • Banks Should Continue To Prep For CFPB Data Rule Rollout

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    Consumer Financial Protection Bureau-supervised banks should not expect industry pressure to delay the rollout of proposed Section 1033 open banking rules, which regulate how consumer financial information flows between financial institutions, and prepare their required data access portals and compliance procedures now, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.

  • Tips For Orgs Facing AI Data Privacy Compliance Challenges

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    Regulators around the world are actively seeking to enforce data privacy and consumer protection laws against companies providing artificial intelligence-related services, raising complex compliance questions in areas like transparency, data minimization, lawfulness of processing, data subject rights and higher risk activities, say attorneys at Hogan Lovells.

  • BIPA's Statutory Exemptions Post-Healthcare Ruling

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    The Illinois Supreme Court's November opinion in Mosby v. Ingalls Memorial Hospital, which held that the Biometric Information Privacy Act's healthcare exemption also applies when information is collected from healthcare workers, is a major win for healthcare defendants that resolves an important question of statutory interpretation, say attorneys at Quinn Emanuel.

  • Enforcement Risk Amid Increased Consumer Data Use

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    While no state has introduced a private right of action for noncompliance with a comprehensive consumer privacy law — except for the California Consumer Privacy Act's data breach provision — organizations and retailers face risk from enforcement actions by state attorneys general and privacy regulators, say attorneys at Dentons.

  • Litigation Inspiration: A Source Of Untapped Fulfillment

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    As increasing numbers of attorneys struggle with stress and mental health issues, business litigators can find protection against burnout by remembering their important role in society — because fulfillment in one’s work isn’t just reserved for public interest lawyers, say Bennett Rawicki and Peter Bigelow at Hilgers Graben.

  • Opinion

    The Problems In Calif. Draft Behavioral Ad Privacy Regs

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    The California Privacy Protection Agency has an opportunity with its automated decision-making technology and profiling rulemaking to harmonize California's regulation of data-driven advertising, but this will be a failure unless several things are changed in its proposed treatment of behavioral advertising, say Alan Friel and Kyle Fath at Squire Patton.

  • Series

    Skiing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    A lifetime of skiing has helped me develop important professional skills, and taught me that embracing challenges with a spirit of adventure can allow lawyers to push boundaries, expand their capabilities and ultimately excel in their careers, says Andrea Przybysz at Tucker Ellis.

  • How Breach Reporting Is Changing For Financial Institutions

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    In May, the Federal Trade Commission's amended Safeguards Rule will extend the data protections that apply to information held by banks to information held by nonbanking financial institutions — and sweep even more broadly in some critical aspects, say Evan Yahng and Kurt Hunt at Dinsmore.

  • High Court Social Media Speech Ruling Could Implicate AI

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    In Moody v. NetChoice and NetChoice v. Paxton, the U.S. Supreme Court is considering whether certain state laws can restrict content moderation by social media platforms, but the eventual decision could also provide insight into whether the first amendment protects artificial intelligence speech, say Joseph Meadows and Quyen Dang at GRSM50.

  • Assessing Chinese Cross-Border Data Transfers

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    Jet Deng and Ken Dai at Dacheng unpack the regulatory framework for cross-border data transfers in China, detailing the major systems at play, last year's policy adjustments, and an outlook and practice tips for businesses.

  • Think Like A Lawyer: Forget Everything You Know About IRAC

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    The mode of legal reasoning most students learn in law school, often called “Issue, Rule, Application, Conclusion,” or IRAC, erroneously frames analysis as a separate, discrete step, resulting in disorganized briefs and untold obfuscation — but the fix is pretty simple, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.

  • The Corporate Transparency Act Isn't Dead Yet

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    After an Alabama federal court's ruling last week rendering the Corporate Transparency Act unconstitutional, changes to the law may ultimately be required, but ongoing compliance is still the best course of action for most, says George Singer at Holland & Hart.

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