On October 28, 2020, a joint cybersecurity advisory was coauthored by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Department of Health and Human Services...more
On October 1, 2020, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) released an advisory regarding potential sanctions risks related to facilitating ransomware payments...
OFAC is the federal...more
10/16/2020
/ Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Threats ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
FCPA Guidance ,
Hackers ,
International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) ,
Malware ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Popular ,
Ransomware ,
Risk Factors ,
Sanctions ,
SDN List ,
TWEA
On October 1, 2020, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued an advisory to alert companies that might pay ransomware attackers of the potential sanctions risks for facilitating...more
With apologies to John Donne, ask not for whom the bells tolls, HIPAA business associates, it tolls for thee! While it has been the law for some time that business associates could be held directly liable for breaches,...more
9/28/2020
/ Cyber Attacks ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Electronic Medical Records ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
HIPAA Breach ,
HIPAA Security Rule ,
OCR ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
PHI ,
Settlement Agreements
The Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) just completed a stakeholder security briefing. This was recorded and should soon be available on the CISA website...more
3/16/2020
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Cybersecurity ,
Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Emergency Management Plans ,
Employer Responsibilities ,
Incident Response Plans ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Public Health ,
Virtual Private Networks
On January 4, 2020, the US Department of Homeland Security posted at National Terrorism Advisory System Bulletin, in the wake of the killing of a senior Iranian military leader by a US drone. That DHS advisory states:
The...more
1/6/2020
/ Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Cyber Threats ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Foreign Relations ,
Hackers ,
Iran ,
National Security ,
Phishing Scams ,
State Sponsors of Terrorism ,
Terrorist Threats
InfoTrax Systems, a Utah-based technology company, has agreed to implement a comprehensive data security program to settle Federal Trade Commission allegations that the company failed to put in place reasonable security...more
12/2/2019
/ Consumer Privacy Rights ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Data Security ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hackers ,
Information Security ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Popular ,
Settlement ,
Websites
Physicians Talking With Their Domestic Partners About Patients -
? Health care institutions often require that physicians and medical students click through annual online modules or attend lectures about HIPAA.
- But...more
11/4/2019
/ California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Collection ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
HIPAA Privacy Rule ,
New Rules ,
Patient Privacy Rights ,
PHI ,
SAMHSA
A recent report from the Mass Digital Health Council includes a cybersecurity toolkit created by MDHC’s Cybersecurity Group of Experts (CGE). The toolkit will enable faster clinical adoption of new digital health products,...more
What do pumpkin spice lattes and National Cybersecurity Awareness Month have in common? Not much, other than both should be top of mind in October, but that doesn’t mean that it’s wrong to think about them both in August....more
If you are doing business in California, the way you handle personal data could soon change in significant ways. The California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”) goes into effect on January 1, 2020, and the time to start...more
In 2018, privacy and data security crossed a number of thresholds. In the public mind, through high-profile data breaches and revelations about unexpected uses of personal information, questions of privacy became much more...more
4/26/2019
/ Attorney General ,
California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) ,
Consumer Privacy Rights ,
COPPA ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Energy Sector ,
Enforcement Actions ,
FCC ,
FERC ,
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
HIPAA Privacy Rule ,
Political Advertising ,
Popular ,
Privacy Concerns ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
"Open the pod door, HAL"
• Commercial voice-activated intelligent personal assistants from Amazon, Apple, Google, and Microsoft, among others, are growing in popularity.
• A report from NPR and Edison Research states...more
2/28/2019
/ Confidential Communications ,
Connected Items ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Collection ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Data Security ,
Electronic Medical Records ,
Electronic Protected Health Information (ePHI) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Hospitals ,
Mobile Apps ,
Oral Communications ,
Patient Privacy Rights ,
Personal Assistants ,
Physicians ,
Privacy Concerns ,
Security Rule ,
Smart Devices ,
Technology Sector ,
Telecommunications
Editors’ Note: This is the seventh and last in our third annual series examining important trends in data privacy and cybersecurity during the new year. Our previous entries were on political advertising, cryptocurrency,...more
Happy New Year! While you are making (and soon breaking) your resolutions, here’s another lifestyle change to consider for 2019: putting your car fob in foil at night before you go to sleep. Why? Because the fob’s signal...more
As noted recently in the Wall Street Journal, “New cybersecurity rules will give Chinese authorities sweeping powers to inspect companies’ information technology and access proprietary information—steps that are likely to...more
In a recent decision from the District of Massachusetts, the alleged perpetrator of cyber-attacks against Wayside Youth and Family Support Network and Boston Children’s Hospital (“BCH”) failed in his attempt to assert a novel...more
The California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (the “CCPA”) was signed into law on June 28, 2018. Although it is a state law, it has national and international ramifications. ...more
All That Data! -
..Therapies, diagnostics, and connected devices now gather huge amounts of data
..That data can be more valuable than the “thing” that is treating, diagnosing, or connecting, provided you have the...more
It is the last day of Bio 2018 and I am attending a curiously titled session: Is Biotechnology Drowning in Health Related Data? The panel’s answer to that question is “no” — in fact, they all agreed there isn’t enough data...more
The late rapper known as The Notorious B.I.G. recorded a song called, “Mo Money, Mo Problems.” Many of the lyrics can’t be repeated here, but the refrain can:
“It’s like the more money we come across
The more problems we...more
I am attending BIO 2018 in Boston, just steps from our Boston office. Naturally, I was drawn to yesterday’s session on “Life Sciences Cyber Exposures and Risk Mitigation Considerations.” But I came away disappointed. First of...more
It’s probably not going to change anything, but the Democratic National Committee has sued Russia (and members of the Russian establishment), members of the Trump campaign, and Wikileaks regard the 2016 election security...more
Partner Colin Zick was recently invited to speak to the Union College Computer Science Department’s Seminar Series. His presentation addressed the difficulties in implementing encryption in the workplace, the challenges to...more
Recent legislation in the New York State Assembly reflects a growing governmental interest in blockchain as a technology in cybersecurity systems. On November 27, four different bills addressing blockchain technologies were...more