Privacy & Information Security Law Blog

As reported on the Insurance Recovery blog, earlier this week, retailer Tesco Plc’s (“Tesco”) banking branch reported that £2.5 million (approximately $3 million) had been stolen from 9,000 customer bank accounts over the weekend in what cyber experts said was the first mass hacking of accounts at a western bank. The reported loss still is being investigated by UK authorities, but is believed to have occurred through the bank’s online banking system. The loss, which is about half of what Tesco initially estimated, is still substantial and serves as a strong reminder that ...

On November 9, 2016, the Centre for Information Policy Leadership (“CIPL”) at Hunton & Williams LLP and AvePoint released the results of a joint global survey launched in May 2016 concerning organizational preparedness for implementing the EU General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”). The GDPR replaces Directive 95/46/EC and will become applicable in May 2018.

On October 25, 2016, the United States Department of Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) issued an advisory entitled Advisory to Financial Institutions on Cyber-Events and Cyber-Enabled Crime (the “Advisory”), to help financial institutions understand how to fulfill their Bank Secrecy Act obligations with regard to cyber events and cyber-enabled crime. The Advisory indicates that SAR reporting is mandatory for cyber events where the financial institution “knows, suspects or has reason to suspect a cyber-event was intended, in whole or in part, to conduct, facilitate, or affect a transaction or a series of transactions….” Implementing this new guidance will require increased collaboration between AML and cybersecurity or IT departments in large institutions, and may create challenges for smaller banks that are more likely to outsource their cybersecurity functions.

Join us at the International Association of Privacy Professionals (“IAPP”) Data Protection Congress in Brussels, November 9-10, 2016.

On November 7, 2016, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of China enacted the final Cybersecurity Law after it held its third reading of the draft Cybersecurity Law on October 31, 2016. The first draft of the Cybersecurity Law was published for comment more than a year ago, followed by the second draft in July this year. The final Cybersecurity Law will apply from June 1, 2017.

On November 1, 2016, the FTC announced that a group of entities known as the Consumer Education Group (“CEG”) settled FTC charges that, between late 2013 and 2015, it made millions of telemarketing calls, including pre-recorded robocalls, to consumers on the national Do Not Call (“DNC”) Registry, in violation of the Telemarketing Sales Rule (“TSR”).

On October 24, 2016, the UK Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport confirmed that the UK will implement the EU General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) by May 2018. The UK Information Commissioner, Elizabeth Denham, has officially welcomed this confirmation and said that the UK must stay on top of the continuing digital economy evolution. The Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”) will publish a revised timeline setting out what areas of guidance the ICO will be prioritizing over the next six months.

On November 3, 2016, the High Court of England and Wales handed down its judgment in the case of R (on the application of Santos) v. Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union [2016] EWHC 2768 (Admin). This high-profile and closely followed case concerns the process that must be followed to trigger Britain’s exit from the European Union. In particular, the question before the court was whether the Prime Minister can wield her executive powers to trigger the exit or if she needs Parliamentary approval before doing so. In reaching its decision, the Court ruled in favor of the claimants, meaning that the Prime Minister does not have the power to trigger Britain’s exit from the European Union, but instead must first obtain Parliamentary approval.

On October 31, 2016, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of China held a third reading of the draft Cybersecurity Law (the “third draft”). As we previously reported, the second draft of the Cybersecurity Law was published for comment in June. The National People’s Congress has not yet published the full text of the third draft of the Cybersecurity Law.

On October 20, 2016, the Centre for Information Policy Leadership (“CIPL”) at Hunton & Williams LLP hosted a side workshop at the International Conference of Data Protection & Privacy Commissioners focused on transparency and risk assessment, entitled “The Role of Risk Assessment and Transparency in Enabling Organizational Accountability in the Digital Economy.” The workshop was led by Bojana Bellamy, CIPL’s President, and featured contributions from many leaders in the field, including the UK ICO, Belgium and Hong Kong’s Privacy Commissioners, and counsel and privacy officers from several multinational companies.