Privacy & Information Security Law Blog

On March 8, 2018, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (“Ninth Circuit”) reversed a decision from the United States District Court for the District of Nevada. The trial court found that one subclass of plaintiffs in In re Zappos.Com, Inc. Customer Data Security Breach Litigation, had not sufficiently alleged injury in fact to establish Article III standing. The opinion focused on consumers who did not allege that any fraudulent charges had been made using their identities, despite hackers accessing their names, account numbers, passwords, email addresses, billing and shipping addresses, telephone numbers, and credit and debit card information in a 2012 data breach. 

Hunton & Williams LLP is pleased to announce that Richard Thomas, Global Strategy Advisor to the Centre for Information Policy Leadership (“CIPL”), has been selected as Chair for the Bailiwick of Guernsey’s new data protection authority. Adding the appointment to his position at CIPL, Thomas will be formally appointed in May and will work with the Data Protection Commissioner and the States of Guernsey to support the island’s regulatory framework in conjunction with the introduction of its new data protection law. Thomas will work on a shadow basis until his formal appointment, and the role is expected to command between 10 and 15 days per year.

The Centre for Information Policy Leadership (“CIPL”) at Hunton & Williams LLP is pleased to announce that Nathalie Laneret will be joining CIPL as Director of Privacy Policy in May. She brings more than 20 years of experience in data protection policy both in-house and in private practice. She is admitted to the New York and Paris bars and has experience in both France and in the U.S. on data protection, IT and security matters, contracts, competition law, compliance issues and litigation.

On March 15, 2018, the Trump Administration took the unprecedented step of publicly blaming the Russian government for carrying out cyber attacks on American energy infrastructure. According to a joint Technical Alert issued by the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI, beginning at least as early as March 2016, Russian government cyber actors carried out a “multi-stage intrusion campaign” that sought to penetrate U.S. government entities and a wide range of U.S. critical infrastructure sectors, including “organizations in the energy, nuclear, commercial facilities, water, aviation and critical manufacturing sectors.”

On March 14, 2018, the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced insider trading charges against a former chief information officer (“CIO”) of a business unit of Equifax, Inc. According to prosecutors, the CIO exercised options and sold his shares after he learned of a cybersecurity breach and before that breach was publicly announced. Equifax has indicated that approximately 147.9 million consumers had personal information that was compromised.

On March 7, 2018, Hunton & Williams LLP hosted a webinar with partners Lisa Sotto, Aaron Simpson and Scott Kimpel, and senior associate Brittany Bacon on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (“SEC’s”) recently released cybersecurity guidance. For the first time since its last major staff pronouncement on cybersecurity in 2011, the SEC has released new interpretive guidance for public companies that will change the way issuers approach cybersecurity risk.

On March 6, 2018, the Centre for Information Policy Leadership (“CIPL”) at Hunton & Williams LLP issued a white paper on GDPR Implementation in Respect of Children’s Data and Consent (the “White Paper”). The White Paper sets forth guidance and recommendations concerning the application of GDPR requirements to the processing of children’s personal data. The White Paper also highlights and addresses several issues raised by the Article 29 Working Party (the “Working Party”) with regard to children in its guidelines on consent and issues raised by the UK Information Commissioner’s Office in its Consultation on Children and the GDPR.

On March 6, 2018, Singapore’s Ministry of Communications and Information announced that Singapore has joined the APEC Cross-Border Privacy Rules (“CBPR”) and Privacy Recognition for Processors (“PRP”) systems. As we previously reported, Singapore submitted its intent to join both systems in July 2017.

On February 28, 2018, the Federal Trade Commission issued a report, titled Mobile Security Updates: Understanding the Issues (the “Report”), that analyzes the process by which mobile devices sold in the U.S. receive security updates and provides recommendations for improvement. The Report is based on information the FTC obtained from eight mobile device manufacturers, and from information the Federal Communications Commission collected from six wireless carriers.

Hunton & Williams LLP is honored to be nominated for Advisen’s 2018 Cyber Risk Awards in the category of Cyber Law Firm of the Year. Advisen is an industry leader in insurance consulting, and regularly hosts conferences offering insights and innovation on cyber risk. The winners are determined by online ballot and the awards will be presented in New York City on June 6, 2018.

Please show your support by voting for Hunton & Williams as 2018 Cyber Law Firm of the Year. Voting ends Friday, April 20, and is limited to one per person.