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Evan D. Wolff is a partner in Crowell & Moring's Washington, D.C. office, where he is co-chair of the firm's Chambers USA-ranked Privacy & Cybersecurity Group and a member of the Government Contracts Group. Evan has a national reputation for his deep technical background and understanding of complex cybersecurity legal and policy issues. Calling upon his experiences as a scientist, program manager, and lawyer, Evan takes an innovative approach to developing blended legal, technical, and governance mechanisms to prepare companies with rapid and comprehensive responses to rapidly evolving cybersecurity risks and threats. Evan has conducted training and incident simulations, developed response plans, led privileged investigations, and advised on hundreds of data breaches where he works closely with forensic investigators. Evan also counsels businesses on both domestic and international privacy compliance matters, including the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). He is also a Registered Practitioner under the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) framework.

Yesterday, the DoD published an Interim Rule that, if finalized as drafted, would expand the already onerous requirements of the DFARS Safeguarding Clause to a broader array of potentially 10,000 defense contractors.  Citing “recent high-profile breaches of federal information,” the DoD’s Interim Rule emphasizes the need for clear, effective, and consistent cybersecurity protections in its contracts.  The Interim Rule proposes to significantly expand the scope of covered information and to require subcontractors to report cyber incidents directly to the DoD (in addition to prime contractors).  Together, these changes will likely increase the scope of potential liability for government contractors and subcontractors who fail to implement adequate cybersecurity measures.

The Interim Rule seeks to enhance cybersecurity protections primarily by expanding the application of the DFARS Safeguarding Clause, which was once itself a heated point of debate.  Currently, the DFARS Safeguarding Clause imposes two sets of requirements on covered defense contractors.  First, they must implement “adequate security” on certain information systems, typically by implementing dozens of specified security controls.  Second, they must report various cyber incidents to the DoD within 72 hours of their discovery.  These requirements, however, apply only to information systems housing “unclassified controlled technical information” (UCTI), which is generally defined as controlled technical or scientific information that has a military or space application. 

The Interim Rule would expand that application to information systems that possess, store, or transmit “covered defense information” (CDI).  CDI would encompass UCTI, meaning that most contractors subject to the DFARS Safeguarding Clause would remain subject to the Interim Rule.  But CDI goes beyond the DFARS Safeguarding Clause by also including information critical to operational security, export controlled information, and “any other information,  marked or otherwise identified in the contract, that requires safeguarding or dissemination controls pursuant to and consistent with law, regulations, and Government policies.”  Significantly, the Interim Rule lists “privacy” and “proprietary business information” as examples of the latter, leaving many covered contractors to wonder exactly how far the definition of “covered defense information” goes.  To keep up with its new application, the Interim Rule would change the name of Clause 252.204-7012 from “Safeguarding Unclassified Controlled Technical Information” to “Safeguarding Covered Defense Information and Cyber Incident Reporting.”Continue Reading Interim Rule Could Expand Already Onerous DFARS Cyber Requirements

The recent arrests of Chinese nationals for alleged economic espionage are raising eyebrows across American industries, who are rightfully asking how they can protect themselves from becoming the next foreign target. U.S. universities have been key figures in these headlines. The risk of economic espionage is a serious one for higher education because universities are

In an open letter to President Obama, 143 of the nation’s most well-known businesses, trade associations, academics, and organizations urged the President to promote strong encryption technologies. The letter was prompted by recent law enforcement (including the FBI and NSA) advocacy for built-in government access to encrypted data despite a December 2013 recommendation by the President’s Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technologies to support encryption without such vulnerabilities.

As the letter states, strong encryption helps protect individuals and organizations from street criminals pilfering information from stolen devices; computer criminals from defrauding individuals to steal their identities; corporate spies from stealing trade secrets; repressive governments from stifling dissent; and foreign intelligence agencies from stealing national security secrets. The letter argues that any attempt to provide law enforcement with an encryption key leaves individuals and companies vulnerable to such bad actors.Continue Reading Technology Coalition tells the President: Encryption Back Doors are a Bad Idea

Crowell & Moring would like to invite government contractors to ring-side seats for the fight of the year – Congress v. the White House.  This year’s Ounce of Prevention Seminar (OOPS) will focus on the dynamic interplay between the opposite ends of Pennsylvania Avenue and how it will ultimately impact government contractors across the industry.  

In conjunction with his remarks at the White House Summit on Cybersecurity at Stanford University earlier this month, President Obama signed Executive Order 13691, entitled “Promoting Private Sector Cybersecurity Information Sharing.”  Published in the Federal Register last week, the Order is intended to encourage and facilitate cybersecurity information sharing within the private sector, and

President Obama recently proposed several new laws reflecting the administration’s increased focus on privacy and cyber issues. The proposals seek to create a consistent national data breach notification law (to replace the current patchwork of 47 state laws), to encourage cyber threat information sharing, and to update cybercrime enforcement. Although Immediate reactions to the proposed

As we near the one-year anniversary of the now infamous Target breach, more and more companies are coming to grips with the new reality that computer crime is a cost of doing business. Facing mounting pressure from customers and regulators alike, many are scrambling to find new ways to avoid becoming victims. In the most

The FDA recently passed down a set of guidelines governing the cybersecurity of medical devices. The guidelines, which are the first of its kind, were issued in response to the FDA’s recognition of the particular security concerns involved in the handling of sensitive medical information. The recommendations vary based on the specific vulnerabilities of each

Hackers, terrorists, and cyber criminals have ignited escalating threats to cybersecurity, homeland defense, and privacy largely unanticipated to the legal profession a generation ago. Today, lawyers must grapple with the intersection of technology, information governance, and law, navigating unprecedented legal challenges and crafting practical solutions on the emerging cyber, homeland, and privacy frontiers.

On behalf

In coordination with Crowell & Moring Antitrust partner David Laing — Evan Wolff, Liz Blumenfeld, and I have recently published an article in the BNA Antitrust & Trade Regulation Report entitled “DOJ and FTC Help Pave the Way For Greater Cyber Information Sharing in the Private Sector.” Our article focuses on the DOJ