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
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Allocation of Data Breach Risks and Costs in Vendor Contracts: Negotiate, Negotiate, Negotiate (And Negotiate Again!) Limitations on Liability and Indemnification
“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…
Update: Another Court Gives Broad Reading to Illinois Biometric Privacy Act
Another court ruling this week concludes that the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (IBIPA) covers face geometry scans that are created from digital images, again rejecting the argument that the statute should apply only to facial scans made in person. The case, Monroy v. Shutterfly, Inc., No. 16 C 10984 (N.D. Ill. September 15,…
Computer Viruses Have Evolved: Have Your Antivirus Contract Warranties Kept Up?
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…
Increased Focus on Health Care Cybersecurity: HHS Releases Long-Awaited Report and Cyber Attack Quick-Response Checklist
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” and Student Privacy Create Tensions for Lawmakers and Educators
“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…
Court Gives Broad Reading to Illinois Biometric Privacy Act
The Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (IBIPA) covers face geometry scans that are created from digital images, according to a preliminary ruling last month in a lawsuit against Google. Rivera v. Google Inc., No. 16 C 02714 (N.D. Ill. February 27, 2017). The suit seeks monetary compensation for individuals identified by face recognition technology…
Lessons Gleaned From Recent HIPAA Settlements: An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure: How Recent OCR Enforcement Impacts Your Transaction Diligence
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…
ERISA Advisory Council Issues 2016 Report on Benefit Plan Cybersecurity
“Cyber threats cannot be eliminated but they can be managed. Cyber experts say that it is not a question of if you will have a cyber-attack, rather it is a question of when. The next question is what you are going to do about it. In addition to taking action to minimize cybersecurity risk, all…
Retirement Plans Incur Data Breaches; ERISA Council Addresses Cyber Risks
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…