Texas Bar Journal 2019 Cybersecurity & Data Privacy Update

The Texas Bar Journal’s 2019 year-end Cybersecurity & Data Privacy Update was once again provided by Shawn Tuma and addressed the following issues: Texas’ New Data Breach Notification Requirements effective January 1, 2020 Whether website scraping allegations are sufficient to invoke Texas and federal “hacking” laws Whether viewing pictures on another’s cellphone violates Texas “hacking” law Cyber …

Think your company’s IT is too sophisticated to be hit with a ransomware attack? Think again.

A lot of business executives — and far too many IT professionals — think that their company’s IT systems are too sophisticated and well-maintained for their company to have a successful ransomware attack against it. They think their company is doing it all right and this is only the kind of stuff that happens to …

Ransomware is the single greatest risk your company faces – here’s why

You read that correctly: ransomware is the single greatest risk to your company. Even in times of the COVID-19 global pandemic, ransomware is still the one risk where, tonight, the company CEO can lay her head down on her pillow with the company doing fine, profits up and operations running smoothly, and then wake up …

Healthcare Providers – Are You Prepared for Hackers to Tell Your Patients About Your Ransomware and Data Breach?

If you are a healthcare provider, you need to prepare yourself now for the new reality that, when hackers get into your network, they will contact your patients to put pressure on you to pay their ransom demands — usually after they have encrypted your network. Here is an example from a recent case that …

Is #ShameHacking Coming Next? Hackers Breach Search Engine for Japanese Sex Hotels

Life is short – it is shorter when hackers tell your spouse Shame hacking — the use, or threatened use, of purportedly hacked data for embarrassing or extorting people by threatening to expose such compromising data if they do not comply with the demands made of them — is a thing. A search engine for …

Texas AG: Business Must Implement and Maintain Reasonable Cybersecurity Safeguards

Go here to read: Texas Businesses Must Implement and Maintain Reasonable Cybersecurity Safeguards According to State Attorney General

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

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 …

Do data breaches have consequences? Will Equifax CIO serve jail time for insider trading?

“Corporate insiders who learn inside information, including information about material cyber intrusions, cannot betray shareholders for their own financial benefit.” Richard R. Best, SEC – Atlanta Division For years many in the cybersecurity/data breach space have been saying that somebody is going to have to go to jail before corporate decision-makers begin to take cybersecurity …

Do data breaches have consequences? Law firm closes due to irreparable damages to its reputation

The once prestigious 40-year law firm Mossack Fonseca, infamously known for its data breach that revealed the Panama Papers, is closing at the end of the month. The reason, in its words: “The reputational deterioration, the media campaign, the financial siege and the irregular actions of some Panamanian authorities have caused irreparable damage, whose obligatory …

Marine corp data breach lesson: human error is often the cause and is preventable

There has been a data breach emanating from the U.S. Marine Corps Forces Reserve that impacted 21,426 individuals. The breach exposed their sensitive personal information such as truncated social security numbers, bank electronic funds transfer and bank routing numbers, truncated credit card information, mailing address, residential address and emergency contact information. Calm down and press the …