This week’s disclosure that a 2013 data breach may have affected all 3 billion Yahoo accounts then in existence could alter the scope of the consolidated data breach cases currently pending against Yahoo in the federal court in San Francisco. In the wake of the court’s August 30 order denying Yahoo’s motion to dismiss the case, the parties have been in the process of negotiating a schedule for discovery and motion practice. The parties had been due to make their joint scheduling submission to the Court today. However, just last night, Judge Lucy Koh issued an order postponing the submission deadline in order to allow the parties to address the impact of Yahoo’s recent disclosure. The court ordered Yahoo to “disclose to Plaintiffs available information regarding the recent data breach disclosure by October 6, 2017, so that the Joint Case Management Statement can propose a realistic amended case schedule.” The court also directed that Yahoo “expedite its production of discovery regarding the recent data breach disclosure and include a proposal to do so” in the parties’ joint scheduling submission, which is now due to be submitted on October 11, 2017.

Continue Reading 3 Billion Compromised Yahoo Accounts May Yield Largest Plaintiff Class Ever

EU laws concerning the transfer of employee personal data to the US are complex, and penalties for getting it wrong are set to increase dramatically when the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) goes into effect in May 2018. Whether you’re in-house counsel, a human resources professional, or a business owner, join us for a review of the current options for transferring personal data, including under Privacy Shield, and a preview of the new landscape under GDPR.

New York and California CLE credit available – register here – 

 

Executive summary:  The EU’s standard contractual clauses may be on the fast track to invalidation, putting a vast number of personal data transfers from the EEA at risk.  A case brought by Maximilian Schrems (whose first complaint resulted in the invalidation of Safe Harbor) has been referred to the EU’s highest court, via a 153-page Irish High Court decision that provides ample ammunition to those who would like to see the standard contractual clauses struck down.  Although aimed at Facebook, the consequences of the decision are virtually certain to affect all US companies that rely on the standard contractual clauses.

Many companies around the world rely on the EU’s standard contractual clauses (also known as the model clauses, and referred to in this article as the “SCCs”) as the legal basis for transferring personal data from the European Economic Area (EEA) to countries whose privacy laws have not been found adequate by the EU Commission.  The SCCs are private contracts, and while some EEA countries require that parties that enter into SCCs deposit a copy, other countries do not, so no one knows for sure how many companies rely on the SCCs.  But the answer is probably “an awful lot of companies.”  Given the data flows between the EEA and US, and the fact that, as of today, only around 2,500 companies rely on Privacy Shield as the legal basis for the data transfers, it’s safe to assume that for US companies, the standard contractual clauses are the primary mechanism for transferring personal data to the US.

The SCCs have been subject to a legal challenge by Maximillian Schrems (often called the Schrems II case) that has just reached a critical inflection point: The Irish High Court has just issued a decision referring to the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) the question of whether the SCCs are invalid.  The main thrust of the invalidity argument is the assertion that US national security laws do not offer adequate levels of protection for the rights of EU residents.  In particular, the argument runs, EU residents lack a meaningful remedy before US courts for uses of their personal data by US national security agencies that are inconsistent with those persons’ rights under EU law. Continue Reading Will the EU box itself in?  Fate of Standard Contractual Clauses (aka the Model Clauses) for personal data transfers is now in the hands of the EU’s highest court

 

Irma over the Southeastern U.S. – Courtesy of NOAA

As Texas, Florida, and the Caribbean rebuild after the latest string of deadly hurricanes and prepare for the possibility of future storms, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) reminded health care providers of the importance of ensuring the availability and security of health information during and after natural disasters.  OCR’s guidance is a good reminder to all health care providers – regardless of where they are located – of the applicability of the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules during natural disasters and other emergencies.

OCR recently published a bulletin during Hurricane Harvey discussing how the HIPAA Privacy Rule applies to sharing protected health information (PHI) during natural disasters. Recirculated while Irma was looming, the guidance document reminds health care providers that HHS may waive sanctions and penalties against a covered hospital for certain activities (e.g., obtaining a patient’s agreement before speaking with family or friends involved in the patient’s care) during an emergency. However, the waiver is limited to certain hospitals located within an emergency area and for a specific period of time.  More importantly, OCR noted in the bulletin that the Privacy Rule still applies to covered entities and their business associates during such emergencies, but the Privacy Rule does allow the disclosure of PHI without the patient’s consent for the patient’s treatment or public health activities.  Covered entities may also share PHI with a patient’s family or friends identified by the patient as being involved in their care, but OCR recommends that the covered entities obtain verbal permission or otherwise confirm that the patient does not object to sharing the information with these individuals.

Similarly, OCR reminded covered entities and business associates that the HIPAA Security Rule is not suspended during a natural disaster or emergency. On the contrary, the Security Rule actually imposes additional requirements during emergencies to ensure that electronic PHI is available during and after the emergency.  Specifically, covered entities and their business associates must have contingency plans that include plans for data back-up, disaster recovery, and emergency mode operation.  Additional information on the HIPAA Security Rule can be found here.

Health care providers must remain vigilant that patient information is not compromised and that it remains secure and accessible at all times. Covered entities and their business associates should carefully review their policies and procedures to make sure that they can respond appropriately to such events.

Originally published in our sister blog, Health Law & Policy Matters

As data breaches dominate national headlines it remains important as ever for businesses to invest in security and to be ready to respond if a breach occurs.  Part of your preparedness program should be staying current on data breach legislation at the state level and we are here to help with a new installment of our “Mintz Matrix,” a detailed survey of U.S. state data breach notification laws.

There have been a few notable developments since we last published an update of the Mintz Matrix and below we have provided a snapshot of these changes.  Before reading on please download a copy of our September 2017 edition of the Mintz Matrix by clicking here. Continue Reading The Mintz Matrix – September 2017

Many companies have started the potentially lengthy process of auditing their service provider contracts to make sure that they comply with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation, which comes into force on May 25, 2018.

Fortunately for those companies that are trying to kick-start their contract audit process, the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is forging ahead with its promised series of guidance documents to help companies get ready for the GDPR. The latest addition is a draft guidance note on the GDPR’s requirements for contracts between data controllers (the folks who make decisions about what personal data will be processed, and for what purposes) and data processors (the folks who carry out processing activities on behalf of a data controller).

The requirement that there be a contract between data controllers and their data processors is not itself new.  Current EU data protection law requires data controllers to have contracts with data processors governing the security of the personal data held by the processor and requiring processor to process the personal data solely in accordance with the instructions of the controller.

But the contract requirements under the GDPR are much more expansive. Continue Reading Have you started auditing your contracts with your service providers that handle EU personal data?  UK Information Commissioner’s Office issues draft guidance for compliance with the GDPR’s contracting requirements.  

Earlier this month, an appellate panel of the federal DC Circuit unanimously held that individuals affected by a healthcare insurer’s data breach in 2014 could pursue claims against the insurer stemming from the cyberattack. In the process, the panel deepened a circuit split on the question of whether data breach victims have standing to pursue claims based solely on exposure of their sensitive personal information, while also adding significant risk of cyber-liability for companies that collect and store medical records of individuals.

In Attias v. CareFirst, Inc., the plaintiffs asserted claims on behalf of a purported class of one million customers of CareFirst, Inc. (“CareFirst”), a healthcare insurer in the Washington, DC metro area. In the 2014 cyberattack, hackers penetrated 22 computers and compromised the identifying health data of one million customers, including customer names, addresses, email addresses, subscriber ID numbers, and Social Security numbers. The plaintiffs did not allege that they had suffered any direct financial injury as a result of their identifying health data being exposed, but did allege they suffered an “increased risk of identity theft” as a result of CareFirst’s alleged negligent conduct. The district court granted CareFirst’s motion to dismiss, which asserted that the plaintiffs lacked standing to bring their alleged claims because they had not asserted either a present injury arising from the data breach or a “high enough likelihood of future injury.” Continue Reading D.C. Circuit Holds Cyber-Theft of Customers’ Medical Identifying Information Created Sufficient Increased Risk of Harm to Establish Standing

As if the devastating effects of Hurricane Harvey are not bad enough, the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) of the Department of Homeland Security is warning of a different threat:  falling victim (or exposing your entire company) to Harvey-related phishing schemes.

Fraudulent emails carrying malware payloads or directing users to phishing or malware-infected websites have been identified and US-CERT is issuing cautions.  Emails requesting donations or appearing as “breaking news” alerts often appear during and after major natural disasters.

The warning continues:

US-CERT encourages users and administrators to use caution when encountering these types of email messages and take the following preventative measures to protect themselves from phishing scams and malware campaigns:

  • Review the Federal Trade Commission’s information on Wise Giving in the Wake of Hurricane Harvey.
  • Do not follow unsolicited web links in email messages.
  • Use caution when opening email attachments. Refer to the US-CERT Tip Using Caution with Email Attachments for more information on safely handling email attachments.
  • Keep antivirus and other computer software up-to-date.
  • Refer to the Avoiding Social Engineering and Phishing Attacks for more information on social engineering attacks.
  • Verify the legitimacy of any email solicitation by contacting the organization directly through a trusted contact number. You can find trusted contact information for many charities on the BBB National Charity Report Index.

Make sure to take a minute and remind your network users about this scam so that we don’t create a new set of Harvey-related victims out of those who were just trying to help.