Privacy & Data Security

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The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and U.S. Department of Education (ED) increasingly are responding to concerns about educational technology and its ability to capture and manipulate massive quantities of private student and parent data. “EdTech,” as it is called, broadly refers to online curriculum and instructional materials accessed by school and personal devices. EdTech has…

“A significant data breach is likely to cost the company materially, and costs could drag on for a number of years,” analyst Shlomo Rosenbaum, commenting on the Equifax breach.

Organizations increasingly rely on third-party service providers for data collection, processing, transfer and storage. As a result of this dependence on external data management sources, most…

By many accounts, 2017 is the 35th anniversary of widely propagating computer viruses. The recent “WannaCry” and “NotPetya” ransomware outbreaks demonstrate that computer viruses (or more broadly, “malware”) are still evolving, developing, and posing new threats. But IT contracts don’t move at the same pace. Contract provisions that address computer virus risk have…

The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) issued a recent report noting that cybersecurity is a key public health concern that needs “immediate and aggressive attention.”  Shortly thereafter, HHS’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) released a checklist of practical steps health care providers can take to protect themselves and their patients in the…

“Big data” in the education context refers to the massive amount of information collected by K-12 schools and higher education institutions on student socio-economics, race and sex, test performance, academic performance, graduation rates, behavior and a myriad of other data points and how they all interact with one another. Collecting and analyzing student data is…

HIPAA enforcement has been on the rise during the last several years, and the dollar impact of those settlements has continued to grow significantly. The Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Civil Rights (OCR) announced a record number of enforcement actions in 2016, including reaching its largest settlement to date in August 2016…

Until relatively recently, retirement plans have not made the news as targets of data breaches. This is somewhat surprising, given the wealth of participants’ personal data stored online by these plans. This past summer, however, two plans experienced cybersecurity incidents, one involving theft and one involving ransomware.
While earlier this month, the ERISA Advisory Council…