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Maida Lerner is senior counsel in Crowell & Moring's Washington, D.C. office and a part of the firm's Privacy & Cybersecurity, Government Contracts, and Environment & Natural Resources groups. Maida counsels a broad group of clients in a variety of sectors on cyber and physical security compliance and risk management, homeland security, and administrative matters, including trade associations and companies in the pipeline, transportation, government contracts, education, health care, and manufacturing sectors.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (“NIST”) is hosting a cybersecurity workshop on the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation System (“DFARS”) Safeguarding Clause and related regulations on Thursday, October 18, 2018.  The workshop, in coordination with the Department of Defense (“DoD”) and the National Archives and Records Administration (“NARA”), will provide an overview of Controlled

The Colorado legislature recently passed a new data privacy law, House Bill 18-1128, which heightens requirements for corporate and public entities handling personal information of Colorado residents.  Effective September 1, 2018, the law aims to strengthen consumer data privacy by 1) shortening the time frame required to notify affected Colorado residents and the Attorney

The United Kingdom’s National Cyber Security Centre (“NCSC”) recently announced guidance whereby industries could be fined up to $24 million (£17 million) for not having effective cybersecurity measures in place.  The penalties apply to critical infrastructure sectors including energy, transportation, water and healthcare.  While the U.K. government stated that these penalties will be “a last

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) recently proposed that the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (“NERC”), which is responsible for promulgating and enforcing FERC-approved mandatory electric reliability standards, revise its Critical Infrastructure Protection (“CIP”) standards to require additional circumstances under which reporting of cybersecurity incidents is mandatory.   FERC’s goal is to enhance the awareness of

On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights announced a $400,000 settlement with Metro Community Provider Network arising from MCPN’s alleged failure to implement adequate security management processes to safeguard electronic protected health information in accordance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act Security Rule. This settlement followed

On Wednesday, in one of the most high-profile data breach settlements to date, The Home Depot agreed to pay $25 million to settle a consolidated class action involving more than 60 nationwide financial institutions harmed by the retailer’s September 2014 data breach.  That month, the home improvement giant announced that hackers had installed malware on

‘Privacy Shield’ certifications possible since August 1, 2016; Hamburg DPA aims to challenge ‘Privacy Shield’; EU Court rules on applicability of EU privacy laws to online companies; Pokémon Go violating EU Privacy Laws?; Norwegian DPA criticizes ‘Facebook at Work’; Advocate Health to Pay Largest HIPAA Settlement Ever; FTC Overrules LabMD Dismissal; Banner Health Cyberattack Affects 3.7M; HHS Announces Grant for Healthcare Sector Information Sharing Organization

Privacy Shield’ certifications possible since August 1, 2016

On Monday, August 1, 2016, the U.S. Department of Commerce has opened up the registration process for multinationals so that they can self-certify their compliance with the newly adopted ‘EU-U.S. Privacy Shield’ (‘Privacy Shield’) for transfers of personal data from Europe to the U.S.

The ‘Privacy Shield’, which had been formally approved via the European Commission’s adequacy decision on July 12, 2016, is replacing the formerly invalidated ‘U.S.-EU Safe Harbor’ Framework that had been struck down before the European Court of Justice in October 2015. The national Data Protection Authorities (‘DPAs’), in their function as Article 29 Working Party (‘WP29’), had also okayed the new Framework, by stating that they would not seek to challenge it “at least until the next annual review”.

Companies, who decide to sign up with the new framework as from now, may therefore rely on it at least until next May. For more details, see also our Client Alert on Privacy Shield as well as our previous week’s blog post.Continue Reading Privacy & Cybersecurity Weekly News Update – Week of July 31

Adoption of Privacy Shield expected in early July; Federal Court limits VPPA liability; Belgian Court overturns Facebook fine; FTC robocall crackdown; A rare HIPAA criminal conviction; UK’s ICO fines Brexit campaigners for mass text messages; House report calls for national encryption commission.

European Commission expects adoption of Privacy Shield for beginning of July

European officials are hoping to finally formalize the “EU-U.S. Privacy Shield”, the cross-Atlantic data transfer pact aiming at replacing the formerly invalidated “U.S.-EU Safe Harbor” Framework, on July 5. The initial draft agreement has been amended to include new explanations of U.S. governmental entities and further limitations on the bulk collection of data and mass surveillance. The European Commission is now confident that also the Article 31 Committee will give its approval to the draft framework.

Many European Privacy regulators and EU bodies, such as the European Parliament and the European Data Protection Supervisor, had argued that the initial draft did not sufficiently protect the fundamental rights of European data subjects. The revised version now “only” allows bulk collection “exceptionally”, where targeted collection is “not feasible”, although it remains open how ‘feasibility’ should be determined.Continue Reading Privacy & Cybersecurity Weekly News Update- Week of June 26

Brexit effect on EU and UK Privacy rules; EU and U.S. to strengthen ‘Privacy Shield’; Ponemon Study on Healthcare Data Security; Mobile ad provider fined for deceptive conduct FTC comments on the Internet of Things

Brexit – what does it mean for EU and UK Privacy rules?

On June 23, 2016, the population of Great Britain in a historical referendum voted to leave the European Union with a majority of 52% vs 48%.  Although this decision does not have immediate impact on the membership of the United Kingdom in the EU (the UK is still a Member of the European Union and will remain so until at least 2018, see also FAQ on the further procedure by the European Commission), waves of discussion are rising high, among others about the future of UK Privacy laws and the implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

In a statement of June 24, 2016, the UK’s Data Protection Authority (ICO) has stressed that “the Data Protection Act remains the law of the land irrespective of the referendum.” This means that on the short term, in principle nothing will change. This also applies with regard to the ongoing EU reform, as a result of which the GDPR will enter into force on May 25, 2018, and thus in any event before the earliest possible day for a definite exit of the UK out of the European Union.  It will therefore – at least for a short period of time – also apply to UK businesses.

What will certainly have an impact, however, is the moment in which the UK factually leaves the European Union. Although the ICO has stressed that it aims to stay as close to European Privacy laws as possible also post-Brexit, this situation would have an immediate impact on businesses sending data to the UK.  As soon as the UK would be no longer part of the European Union, due to the absence of an ‘Adequacy Decision’ of the European Commission relating to the UK, companies would have to put in place other transfer mechanisms such as Standard Contractual Clauses or Binding Corporate Rules, in order to lawfully continue to transfer personal data from European countries to the UK as soon as the exit is completed. This could only be avoided if the UK would guarantee an adequate level of Data Protection standards, which would have to be acknowledged by the European Commission.

The ICO has made its position clear: “Having clear laws with safeguards in place is more important than ever given the growing digital economy, and we will be speaking to government to present our view that reform of the UK law remains necessary.” Continue Reading Privacy & Cybersecurity Weekly News Update- Week of June 20, 2016