From the FTC, a follow-up to a previously-reported action: Following a public comment period, the Federal Trade Commission has accepted as final settlements with two operations it charged with illegally exposing the sensitive personal information of thousands of consumers by allowing peer-to-peer file-sharing software to be installed on their corporate computer systems. Settlements with Utah-based debt…
Category: Commentaries and Analyses
Class Actions Adding to the Cost of Data Breaches
Sharon R. Klein and Jeffrey L. Vagle of Pepper Hamilton LLP review what’s going in the federal circuits when it comes to getting potential class action lawsuits over data breaches or privacy breaches dismissed. You can read their article on JD Supra. I’ll take a wild guess and hypothesize that they’re defendants’ lawyers and not…
174 million records compromised in 855 data breach incidents last year, says report
Out-Law.com has a recap of some of the main findings in the 2012 Verizon DBIR: Verizon’s Data Breach Investigations Report (92-page / 3.47MB PDF) (DBIR) covering the year 2011 found that 174 million records were compromised in a total of 855 data breaches in what it called an “an all time low” for protection against data breaches….
Data security flaws part of FTC complaint against Compete
The FTC has been active in going after companies that do not provide adequate data security. Today, they announced that Compete, Inc. had settled charges involving unfair or deceptive practices associated with collecting and sharing personal information of users. Of interest here, however, are the charges in the complaint that relate to data security: Compete’s…
The Southern District of Florida Weighs In On Data Breach Lawsuits
A few months ago, I noted a lawsuit by a former Winn-Dixie employee against Purchasing Power. The complaint in Burrows v. Purchasing Power alleged that Winn-Dixie shared employee data with Purchasing Power to administer its employee benefits program, but also sent them data on employees not enrolled in the program. The complaint also alleged that although…
UK: Private sector leads the way on data protection compliance but ‘room for improvement’ elsewhere (update1)
The Information Commissioner’s Office issued a press release today on the results of its voluntary audit program: A series of reports published by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) today has highlighted the positive approaches many private sector companies are adopting to look after people’s data. However concerns remain about data protection compliance within the local…