Alexandra Jones reports: The Supreme Court unanimously shot down the government’s broad reading of identity theft law Thursday in a decision that will shorten the prison sentence of an Austin psychologist who defrauded Medicaid. “While the Government represents that prosecutors will act responsibly in charging defendants under its sweeping reading, this Court ‘cannot construe a…
Category: Breach Laws
Bluefield University cyberattack affects employees, students, and some students’ parents (2)
Updated May 13: It appears that Bluefield U. has not warned students that the university’s system is still compromised and that the threat actor can see and acquire files. Yesterday, a student that DataBreaches will not name submitted a Virginia Tuition Assistance Grant application with his full Social Security number, date of birth, and other…
How the Federal Tort Claims Act Extricates Certain Health Care Providers From Data Breach Class Action Suits
John Cleary and Shundra Crumpton Manning of Polsinelli write: Data breach class action litigation continues to occupy center stage in the ongoing struggle to secure compensation and redress for legitimate victims of actionable cybersecurity shortcomings of data owners. The underlying scenarios in these cases encompass criminal hacking episodes, rogue employees, carelessness and unforeseen material gaps…
Push to ban ransomware payments following Australia’s biggest cyberattack
Luke Huigsloot reports: The Australian government is being pushed to ban the payment of cyber ransoms, usually demanded in cryptocurrency, following a local business suffering a mass data breach and subsequent ransom demand. […] The Australian government’s lead cybersecurity agency, the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC), currently recommends that victims of ransomware attacks never pay…
HHS Office for Civil Rights Announces the Expiration of COVID-19 Public Health Emergency HIPAA Notifications of Enforcement Discretion
Notifications of Enforcement Discretion expire at 11:59 pm on May 11, 2023 Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announces that the Notifications of Enforcement Discretion issued under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health…
Battle could be brewing over new FCC data breach reporting rules
Cynthia Brumfield reports: On January 6, the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) launched a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to update its data breach reporting rules for telecommunications carriers. “The law requires carriers to protect sensitive consumer information but, given the increase in frequency, sophistication, and scale of data leaks, we must update our rules to…