PRIVACY + SECURITY BLOG

News, Developments, and Insights

HIPAA Enforcement 2017: Another Big Year for HIPAA Enforcement

At the end of 2017, the OCR logged just under $20 million in fines for HIPAA violations from 10 enforcement actions with monetary penalties.  In 2016, the total in penalties was roughly the same amount but from 15 organizations. Here is an overview of the resolution agreements and enforcement actions with civil monetary penalties from […]

Cartoon on GDPR Vendor Management

  This cartoon depicts the challenges of complying with GDPR’s requirements for vendor management.   Under the GDPR, there are serious responsibilities when using a vendor to process personal data.  Broadly, there are three things that data controllers must do: 1. Data controllers must perform due diligence in selecting vendors and that are complaint with GDPR. […]

GDPR Training, Writings, and Resources: Roundup from the Past Year

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is one of the world’s strictest data privacy laws and requires privacy professionals around the globe to design and implement comprehensive compliance programs.  In the past year, I developed a series of resources and training courses to assist privacy professionals with this complex task.   GDPR Whiteboard 200+ pages of […]

10 Reasons Why the Fourth Amendment Third Party Doctrine Should Be Overruled in Carpenter v. US

The U.S. Supreme Court will be hearing arguments this week in Carpenter v. United States, which is one of the most important Fourth Amendment cases before the Court.  The case involves whether the Third Party Doctrine will remain viable.  If so, the Fourth Amendment will fade into obsolescence in today’s digital age. In this post, […]

Silencing #MeToo: How NDAs and Litigation Stifle Victims, Innovators, and Critics — An Interview with Orly Lobel

  Countless women have been coming forward to say #MeToo and share their traumatic stories of sexual harassment and assault. But there are many stories we’re not hearing. These stories are being silenced by extremely broad nondisclosure agreements (NDAs), some made at the outset of employment and others when settling litigation over sexual harassment. They […]

Beyond GDPR: The Challenge of Global Privacy Compliance — An Interview with Lothar Determann

For multinational organizations in an increasingly global economy, privacy law compliance can be bewildering these days. There is a tangle of international privacy laws of all shapes and sizes, with strict new laws popping up at a staggering speed. Federal US law continues to fade in its influence, with laws and regulators from abroad taking the […]

Game of Risks: An Interview with Adam Levin on the HBO Breach, Cybersecurity Insurance, and Cyber Risks

  Recently, HBO suffered a massive data breach. The hackers stole unreleased episodes of Game of Thrones and have been leaking them before they are broadcast. Episodes of other shows were also stolen. The hackers grabbed 1.5 terabytes of data including sensitive internal documents.  

Why Is HIPAA Data Breach Enforcement Increasing? An Insurer’s View from Katherine Keefe

    Recently, HIPAA enforcement over data breaches is increasing – a lot. This year has seen some of the largest monetary penalties. Why is this happening? I had the chance to interview Katherine Keefe, who leads the Beazley Breach Response (BBR) Services Group.  I am particularly interested in the insurer’s perspective, so I interviewed Katherine.

Cybersecurity vs. Humans: The Human Problem Requires a Human Answer

According to a recent Ponemon Institute study, the odds of an organization having a data breach are 1 in 4.  The study also found that the average cost of a data breach is $3.62 million in 2017.  That’s a drop of 10%, but the size of data breaches has increased. The Human Problem The vast […]