Category Archives: Data Privacy

Yahoo Data Breach: US Senators Demand Answers – Still Think You Don’t Have to Disclose and Notify?

There is a grave and unfortunate misperception among many business leaders who believe that when their company has had a data breach, going through a response and notification of affected individuals is optional. To the educated readers of this blog, this sounds shocking. Sadly, it is something I see on a regular basis. What is worse …

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Yahoo Data Breach – Some Facts & Questions (i.e., was it really the Russians?)

The Basic Facts Yahoo announced that it had a data breach in late 2014 and 500 million users’ account information was stolen. The account information may include names, email addresses, telephone numbers, date of birth, passwords (most encrypted with bcrypt, but apparently not all), security questions, and security question answers. People who have Yahoo-based services …

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You Could See This One Coming: Vibrator Company Sued for Tracking Usage

SETTLEMENT UPDATE: A Canadian sex-toy manufacturer, We-Vibe, has been ordered to pay out almost $3 million to customers who bought a “smart vibrator” that tracked owners’ usage without their knowledge. Each customer who used the associated app will be paid $7,433, and customers who bought the vibrator but never used the app can claim up to …

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Cybersecurity Legal Issues: What you really need to know (slides)

Shawn Tuma delivered the presentation Cybersecurity Legal Issues: What you really need to know at a Cybersecurity Summit sponsored by the Tarleton State University School of Criminology, Criminal Justice, and Strategic Studies’ Institute for Homeland Security, Cybercrime and International Criminal Justice. The presentation was on September 13, 2016 at the George Bush Institue. The following are the slides …

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Brazzers porn hack: more than just account holders exposed–what does this mean for your company?

We have been observing an evolution in hackers’ tactics from going after data that could be directly monetized, such as payment card data, to going after data that can be monetized indirectly through extortion, such as the Ashley Madison data. The hack of Brazzers porn site is similar to the Ashley Madison hack in that the …

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Can a Company Remotely Wipe an Ex-Employee’s Device?

Note: this article was previously posted on Norse’s DarkMatters. One of my favorite sayings about cyber risk is “an ounce of prevention is cheaper than the very first day of litigation.” A recent case provides a nice example of exactly what I mean. In this case, an effective BYOD policy could have saved this company …

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Why Cybersecurity Incidents Are Legal Events

In this video, cybersecurity and data protection attorney Shawn Tuma explains why cybersecurity incidents are as much legal events as they are information technology and business / public relations events. ______________________ Shawn Tuma (@shawnetuma) is a business lawyer with an internationally recognized reputation in cybersecurity, computer fraud and data privacy law. He is a Cybersecurity …

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Apple’s Legal Response in Less Than 300 Words #AppleVsFBI

On February 25, 2016, Apple filed its Motion to Vacate the Court Order requiring it to assist the government. Here is a summary of Apple’s *legal arguments* in its Motion to Vacate in less than 300 words: The government wants Apple to help it circumvent the encryption on a device. Congress has examined the issue and …

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The “Legal” Reason the FBI’s Password Blunder Could Kill its Case in #AppleVsFBI

On December 6, 2015, FBI investigators reset the password of Farook’s iCloud account, taking what it believed was the logical next step to gain access to the iCloud backup data. Turns out, that was the wrong move. The phone had not been backed up in nearly 2 months and, had FBI not reset the password, …

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Making Sense of #AppleVsFBI Issues: #DtSR Podcast

The USA v. Apple battle is one of the hottest issues currently being debated in cybersecurity, privacy, law enforcement, and perhaps even, water coolers in offices around the country. What the debate is lacking in substantive, factually-based, well-reasoned analysis, it certainly makes up for in passion and strong opinions. If you are not convinced, spend …

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