The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced on February 1, 2023 that it has settled, for $1.5M, its first enforcement action under its Health Breach Notification Rule against GoodRx Holdings, Inc., a telehealth and...more
2/3/2023
/ Data Management ,
Data Privacy ,
Data-Sharing ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Breach Notification Standard ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Healthcare ,
PHI ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Settlement Agreements ,
Targeted Digital Advertising ,
Telehealth
In response to a rash of employment offer scams, The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently issued a scam alert intended to educate job seekers so they can avoid being victimized....more
It has been difficult to watch the extreme weather patterns that have been happening around the U.S. over the past few months. Fires and torrential rainstorms in California, tornadoes down south, blizzards in the Midwest and...more
CYBERSECURITY -
LastPass Updates Disclosure of Security Incident -
There are pros and cons to using a password manager. The biggest pro is that it helps keep all of our passwords organized and safe. The biggest con is...more
1/9/2023
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
COPPA ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Privacy ,
EPIC ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Influencers ,
Microchip Technology ,
Robotics ,
Scams ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices
This week, in addition to the news-catching, ongoing dispute between Twitter and Elon Musk, Twitter’s former head of cybersecurity, Peiter Zatko, claimed in a whistleblower filing with several federal agencies that Twitter...more
8/26/2022
/ Bots ,
Data Collection ,
Data Protection ,
Data Security ,
Elon Musk ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Government Investigations ,
Internet ,
Risk Management ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Social Media ,
Social Networks ,
Twitter ,
Vulnerability Assessments
It’s back-to-school time and every parent I know of school-aged children is scouring lists provided by schools to purchase items for their kids’ first day.
It is easy and convenient to purchase these items online, but...more
The Twilio and Cloudfare smishing attacks [view related post] provide a timely reminder of how sophisticated smishing attacks are and how they can affect businesses and their customers. But threat actors don’t just attack...more
Seeing the victims in Kentucky following the devastating floods is heartbreaking. Even more distressing is seeing those who are trying to help by donating funds to the relief effort victimized as well....more
It is tempting to get into the world of cryptocurrency investments. News items of early investors banking millions of dollars fuel the temptation.
But it is an investment strategy that is fraught with fraud, so investors...more
The Federal Trade Commission kicked off Pride Month yesterday, acknowledging that “some of the most egregious scams and abuses target the LGBTQ+ community.” The scams that those in the LGBTQ+ community experience include...more
6/2/2022
/ Cybersecurity ,
Dating Services ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Fraud ,
Geolocation ,
LGBTQ ,
Mobile Apps ,
New Guidance ,
Scams ,
Vulnerability Assessments ,
Vulnerable Victims
CYBERSECURITY -
DOJ Takes Down RaidForums' Website -
In an action against what has been described as one of the largest hacker forums in the world, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on April 12, 2022, that...more
4/15/2022
/ Consumer Privacy Rights ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Management ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Microsoft ,
Network Security ,
Personal Data ,
Popular ,
Scams
In addition to teaching your kids about financial literacy, teach them (and yourself) to identify scams that are designed to steal from you.
One scam that has made a comeback and is surprisingly successful is spoofing...more
CYBERSECURITY -
Cyber-Attackers Politically Aligned -
The most recent Accenture Global Incident Report (the Report) shows that cyber-attackers have political views and are divided between support for Russia or Ukraine....more
3/18/2022
/ Cyber Attacks ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Personal Data ,
Popular ,
Right To Know ,
Russia ,
Scams ,
Vulnerability Assessments
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a press release on March 15, 2022, stating that it was taking action against CafePress “over allegations that it failed to secure consumers’ sensitive personal data and covered up a...more
3/18/2022
/ CafePress ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Protection ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FTC Act ,
Personal Data ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Violations ,
Section 5
It’s an old trick, but it works, so alerting our readers is worth repeating. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a Scam Alert this week warning consumers that fraudsters are impersonating FTC officials....more
There is a federal law, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), that requires app developers to obtain parental consent before collecting information from children under the age of 13. The law has been on the...more
3/11/2022
/ Children's Products ,
Children's Toys ,
Connected Items ,
COPPA ,
Data Collection ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Information Technology ,
Mobile Apps ,
Mobile Device Management ,
Online Safety for Children ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Smart Devices
2021 will go down in our minds as many things, including the year in which more people reported fraud and the highest dollar amount of fraud losses in history. Not a great statistic....more
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently released data showing that more than 95,000 consumers reported losses totaling $770 million from fraud schemes that started on social media. ...more
CYBERSECURITY -
New Mexico County Recovering from Ransomware Attack -
Another day, another governmental entity hit with a ransomware attack. If you are a resident of Bernalillo County, New Mexico, and you need a marriage...more
1/14/2022
/ Army ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Data Security ,
Drones ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Genetic Testing ,
Hackers ,
Homeland Security Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) ,
Mobile Apps ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Ransomware ,
Russia
CYBERSECURITY -
FTC Warns Companies of Enforcement for Failing to Patch Log4j Vulnerability -
In what I would describe as an unusual but interesting move by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), on January 4, 2022, it...more
1/7/2022
/ Cyber Attacks ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Data Security ,
Drones ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hackers ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Search Engines ,
Vulnerability Assessments
In what I would describe as an unusual but interesting move by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), on January 4, 2022, it issued a warning to companies “to remediate Log4j security vulnerability” or face an enforcement action...more
Another fall-out from the pandemic is that impersonation fraud has increased dramatically. According to the Federal Trade Commission, “the COVID-19 pandemic has spurred a sharp spike in impersonation fraud, as scammers...more
Gift card scams continue to be one of the most frequently-reported scams to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). According to its recent Scam Alert entitled Scammers are tricking more people into buying gift cards, “40,000...more
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a Final Rule on October 27, 2021, amending the Standards for Safeguarding Customer Information, known as “the Safeguards Rule,” under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which is applicable...more
This week, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a Scam Alert to consumers notifying them that scammers are impersonating employees of the IRS promising a third Economic Impact Payment if they access forms through a link...more