Privacy & Information Security Law Blog

On June 26, 2017, Airway Oxygen, a provider of oxygen therapy and home medical equipment, reported that it was the subject of a ransomware attack affecting 500,000 patients’ protected health information. The attack is the second largest health data breach recorded by the Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) this year, and the largest ransomware incident recorded by OCR since it began tracking incidents in 2009.

In the first segment of this three-part series, Lisa Sotto, head of the Global Privacy and Cybersecurity practice at Hunton & Williams, discusses information security law issues with The Electronic Discovery Institute. “[Information security] is a significant risk issue” and should be “at the top of the radar screen” for C-suites and boards of directors, says Sotto. In this segment, Sotto addresses U.S. and global data breach notification laws.

Watch the full video.

As companies in the EU and the U.S. prepare for the application of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) in May 2018, Hunton & Williams’ Global Privacy and Cybersecurity partner Aaron Simpson discusses with Forcepoint the key, significant changes from the EU Directive that companies must comply with before next year. Accountability, expanded data subject rights, breach notification, sanctions and data transfer mechanisms are a few requirements that Simpson explores in detail. He reminds companies that, in the coming year, it will be very important to ...

On June 23, 2017, Anthem Inc., the nation’s second largest health insurer, reached a record $115 million settlement in a class action lawsuit arising out of a 2015 data breach that exposed the personal information of more than 78 million people. Among other things, the settlement creates a pool of funds to provide credit monitoring and reimbursement for out-of-pocket costs for customers, as well as up to $38 million in attorneys’ fees.

On June 12, 2017, a putative class action was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia against Tempur Sealy International, Inc. and Aptos, Inc. Tempur Sealy is a mattress, bedding and pillow retailer based in Lexington, Kentucky. Aptos is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, and formerly hosted and maintained Tempur Sealy’s website and online payment system. The plaintiff alleges that the breach was discovered in November of 2016 and involved the exposure of payment card data and other PII of an undisclosed number of Tempur Sealy customers.   

On June 20, 2017, the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”) published an updated version of its Code of Practice on Subject Access Requests (the “Code”). The updates are primarily in response to three Court of Appeal decisions from earlier this year regarding data controllers’ obligations to respond to subject access requests (“SARs”). The revisions more closely align the ICO’s position with the court’s judgments.

On June 21, 2017, the Federal Trade Commission updated its guidance, Six-Step Compliance Plan for Your Business, for complying with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”). The FTC enforces the COPPA Rule, which sets requirements regarding children’s privacy and safety online. The updated guidance adds new information on situations where COPPA applies and steps to take for compliance.

On June 20, 2017, the German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure issued a report on the ethics of Automated and Connected Cars (the “Report”). The Report was developed by a multidisciplinary Ethics Commission established in September 2016 for the purpose of developing essential ethical guidelines for the use of automated and connected cars.

On June 13, 2017, Judge Andrea R. Wood of the Northern District of Illinois dismissed with prejudice a putative consumer class action filed against Barnes & Noble. The case was first filed after Barnes & Noble’s September 2012 announcement that “skimmers” had tampered with PIN pad terminals in 63 of its stores and exposed payment card information. The court had previously dismissed the plaintiffs’ original complaint without prejudice for failure to establish Article III standing. After the Seventh Circuit’s decision in Remijas v. Neiman Marcus Group, the plaintiffs filed an almost identical amended complaint that alleged the same causes of action and virtually identical facts. Although the court found that the first amended complaint sufficiently alleged Article III standing, the plaintiffs nevertheless failed to plead a viable claim. The court therefore dismissed the first amended complaint under Rule 12(b)(6). 

On June 21, 2017, in the Queen’s Speech to Parliament, the UK government confirmed its intention to press ahead with the implementation of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) into national law. Among the announcements on both national and international politics, the Queen stated that, “A new law will ensure that the United Kingdom retains its world-class regime protecting personal data, and proposals for a new digital charter will be brought forward to ensure that the United Kingdom is the safest place to be online.” The statement confirms the priority ...

Recently, the Belgian Privacy Commission (the “Belgian DPA”) released a Recommendation (in French and Dutch) regarding the requirement to appoint a data protection officer (“DPO”) under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”).

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) and the Health Care Industry Cybersecurity Task Force (the “Task Force”) have published important materials addressing cybersecurity in the health care industry.

On Monday, June 12, 2017, South Korea’s Ministry of the Interior and the Korea Communications Commission announced that South Korea has secured approval to participate in the APEC Cross-Border Privacy Rules (“CBPR”) system. South Korea had submitted its intent to join the CBPR system back in January 2017. South Korea will become the fifth APEC economy to join the CBPR system. The other four participants are Canada, Japan, Mexico and the United States.

On May 27, 2017, the National Information Security Standardization Technical Committee of China published draft guidelines on cross-border transfers pursuant to the new Cybersecurity Law, entitled Information Security Technology – Guidelines for Data Cross-Border Transfer Security Assessment (the “Draft Guidelines"). The earlier draft, Measures for the Security Assessment of Outbound Transmission of Personal Information and Critical Data (the “Draft Measures”), requires network operators to conduct “security assessments” when they propose to transfer personal information and “important information” to places outside of China. These “security assessments” are essentially audits of the cybersecurity circumstances surrounding the proposed transfer that are intended to produce an assessment of the risk involved. If the assessment indicates that the risk is too high, the transfer must be terminated.

On June 5, 2017, an Illinois federal court ordered satellite television provider Dish Network LLC (“Dish”) to pay a record $280 million in civil penalties for violations of the FTC’s Telemarketing Sales Rule (“TSR”), the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) and state law. In its complaint, the FTC alleged that Dish initiated, or caused a telemarketer to initiate, outbound telephone calls to phone numbers listed on the Do Not Call Registry, in violation of the TSR. The complaint further alleged that Dish violated the TSR’s prohibition on abandoned calls and assisted and facilitated telemarketers when it knew or consciously avoided knowing that telemarketers were breaking the law.

On June 7, 2017, the European Commission published a paper signalling the EU’s intention to increase its role in directing cybersecurity policy and responses across its member states. The increasing threat posed by cyber attacks is highlighted in the EU Commission’s Reflection Paper on the Future of European Defence, which builds its case for closer union in respect of defense efforts.

Recently, the Centre for Information Policy Leadership (“CIPL”) at Hunton & Williams LLP issued a white paper on Recommendations for Implementing Transparency, Consent and Legitimate Interest under the GDPR (the “White Paper”). The White Paper sets forth guidance and recommendations on the key concepts of transparency, consent and legitimate interest under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”).

On June 2, 2017, in preparation for the first annual review of the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield (“Privacy Shield”) framework, the European Commission has sent questionnaires to trade associations and other groups, including the Centre for Information Policy Leadership at Hunton & Williams LLP, to seek information from their Privacy Shield-certified members on the experiences of such organizations during the first year of the Privacy Shield. The EU Commission intends to use the questionnaire responses to inform the annual review of the function, implementation, supervision and enforcement of the Privacy Shield.

On May 26, 2017, Alcoa Community Federal Credit Union (“Alcoa”), on behalf of itself, credit unions, banks and other financial institutions, filed a nationwide class action against Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (“Chipotle”). The case arises from a breach of customer payment card data. The putative class consists of all such financial institutions that issued payment cards, or were involved with card-issuing services, for customers who made purchases at Chipotle from March 1, 2017, to the present. Plaintiffs allege a number of “inadequate data security measures,” including Chipotle’s decision not to implement EMV technology. 

The Centre for Information Policy Leadership (“CIPL”) at Hunton & Williams LLP recently submitted formal comments (“Comments”) to the Article 29 Working Party’s (“Working Party’s”) Guidelines on Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) and determining whether processing is “likely to result in a high risk” for the purposes of Regulation 2016/679 (“DPIA Guidelines”) that were adopted on April 4, 2017. CIPL’s Comments follow its December 2016 white paper on Risk, High Risk, Risk Assessments and Data Protection Impact Assessments under the GDPR, which CIPL had submitted to the Working Party as formal initial input to its development of DPIAs and “high-risk” guidance.

Recently, the Colorado Division of Securities (the “Division”) published cybersecurity regulations for broker-dealers and investment advisers regulated by the Division. Colorado’s cybersecurity regulations follow similar regulations enacted in New York that apply to certain state-regulated financial institutions.

On June 1, 2017, the new Cybersecurity Law went into effect in China. This post takes stock of (1) which measures have been passed so far, (2) which ones go into effect on June 1 and (3) which ones are in progress but have yet to be promulgated.

With just under one year to go before the EU General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) becomes law across the European Union, the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”) has continued its efforts to help businesses prepare for the new law. The ICO also has taken steps to address its own role post-Brexit.

On May 16, 2017, the Governor of the State of Washington, Jay Inslee, signed into law House Bill 1493 (“H.B. 1493”), which sets forth requirements for businesses who collect and use biometric identifiers for commercial purposes. The law will become effective on July 23, 2017. With the enactment of H.B. 1493, Washington becomes the third state to pass legislation regulating the commercial use of biometric identifiers. Previously, both Illinois and Texas enacted the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (740 ILCS 14) (“BIPA”) and the Texas Statute on the Capture or Use of Biometric Identifier (Tex. Bus. & Com. Code Ann. §503.001), respectively.