Tag: Cybersecurity

Texas Bar Journal 2018 Year-End Cybersecurity & Data Privacy Update

Posted on by Shawn E. Tuma

The Texas Bar Journal’s year-end update on Cybersecurity & Data Privacy law was once again provided by Shawn Tuma and addressed the following issues:

  • Lawyers’ Cybersecurity and Data Breach Obligations that are required under Texas law and the ABA’s Ethics Opinion 483 titled Lawyers’ Obligations After
    an Electronic Data Breach or Cyberattack
  • Whether an IT service provider’s locking a customer out of its computer violates the Texas “hacking” law
  • Whether a woman viewing pictures on her boyfriend’s iPhone violates the Texas “hacking” law
Download the Cybersecurity & Data Privacy Law Update

The Most Important Lesson You Are Not Hearing About Apple’s iOS FaceTime Glitch

Posted on by Shawn E. Tuma

 The most important lesson about Apple’s iOS group FaceTime debacle that you are not hearing about should be a wake up call for everyone (Tuma explains this glitch on WFLA in Tampa, FL):

  • If Apple, through a programming glitch, has the ability to allow someone to use your iOS device as a microphone to listen to your conversations without you even touching the device or knowing it was in use, then Apple can do the same thing through purposeful programming.
  • If Apple can use programming to access your microphone, then it can also access your camera the same way.
  • If Apple can do this, so too could nation states with sufficient access to the programming (If you doubt this, read this story of UAE hackers).
  • If Apple and nation states can do this, so too can criminal hackers, with sufficient access. (Tuma explains more about this on WIOD in Miami, FL)

For decades our whole society has enjoyed the benefits of technology without accepting the responsibility of guarding against the privacy and security risks that go along with it. We have taken those things for granted and now it is time to pay the piper and become more responsible by being more cyber aware and using good cyber hygiene.

This is not just for the companies that provide this technology and collect and use our data. This is for all of us — we the people must learn to protect ourselves against these risks. (Tuma explains more about this on WJIM in Lansing, MI)

Here are a few points to consider to think about how we can do this:

  • There is no such thing as 100% security when it comes to technology or data. There is always some measure of risk involved in the cyber realm.
  • As you go through your day, imagine someone is listening and watching you through your telephone and think about what aspects of your private and business life you are unecessarily exposing through the technology and data we use.
  • This isn’t intended to be alarmist and suggest that you purge all technology from your life, however, there are ways to minimize unnecessary risk:
    • Do you really need your telephone in the private places you go, like your bedroom or restroom?
    • Do you really need to share your company’s deepest, darkest secrets in an email when it could have been done in person?
    • Do you need to have your telephone sitting on the table when you are discussing extremely sensitive private personal or business information, or, would that conversation go just as well (or even better) without the telephones?

 

Protect Your Company Against W-2 Business Email Compromise Attacks During Tax Season

Posted on by Shawn E. Tuma

The most likely “cyber attack” that your company will face will come in the form of an email. One of the most common forms of email attack is the business email compromise (BEC) and the most popular time of the year for the W-2 version of BEC is right now — tax season.

Read the full blog post to make sure you and your company are equipped with answers to:

• What is a W-2 BEC Attack?
• How Do Attackers Use the W-2 Information?
• Why Do So Many of These Attacks Happen During Tax Season?
• What Can You Do Now to Protect Your Company?
• What To Do if Your Company is Hit by this Attack?

READ MORE

Come to our session at #PSR18 – Vendor Risk Management: Maintaining Relationships While Limiting Liability

Posted on by Shawn E. Tuma

Are you at IAPP – International Association of Privacy Professionals P.S.R.  #PSR18 in Austin? If so, please come to our Thursday 10:30 – 11:30 session on Vendor Risk Management: Maintaining Relationships While Limiting Liability in Lone Star Ballroom A, Level 3. It should be great as I get to be with great panelists Tami Dokken and Melissa Krasnow and we will have Mark Smith as our moderator.

Bloomberg BNA Texas ProfileWhile you’re there pick up your copy of Bloomberg BNA’s  Domestic Privacy Profile: Texas!

If you can’t make it, here is a link to the .pdf (hey, I know people!).

Session Info: https://iapp.org/conference/privacy-security-risk/sessions-psr18/?id=a191a0000028eqTAAQ

Key Lesson All Business Leaders Can Learn From the Anthem Data Breach Case

Posted on by Shawn E. Tuma

The 2015 Anthem data breach affected 79 million people and was the largest health-care data breach in U.S. history. The affected consumers sued Anthem in a case that settled for a record $115 million. Now the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services’ Office of Civil Rights has reached a settlement with Anthem for a record $16 million — an amount that is almost three times the next-largest OCR data breach settlement of $5.55 million.

While these numbers are interesting, what is the takeaway for business leaders?

It all started with an employee opening and responding to a phishing email:

phishing-3390518_1920

Anthem discovered cyber-attackers had infiltrated their system through spear phishing emails sent to an Anthem subsidiary after at least one employee responded to the malicious email and opened the door to further attacks. (HHS Press Release)

While this may be shocking, it is neither new nor unexpected. Most cyber incidents are a result of failures of basic cyber hygiene, not super sophisticated James Bond-like attacks. Read more about this in 1 Step to Improve Your Company’s Cybersecurity Today.