Perhaps one of the stupidest things a prosecutor trying to defend criminal prosecution under CFAA can say is to admit that they have no understanding of what the alleged “hacker” did that made his conduct a hack or violation of CFAA. But that’s pretty much what happened in a Philadelphia courtroom yesterday during Weev’s appeal…
Category: Commentaries and Analyses
If you receive a breach notification letter offering you free credit monitoring….
Then Brian Kreb’s column today is a MUST READ for you. Find out what these services do – and don’t do – and what your alternatives are.
N.Y. Court: Zurich Not Obligated to Defend Sony Units in Data Breach Litigation
Young Ha reports: A New York trial court recently ruled in a commercial general liability (CGL) policy coverage case that Zurich American Insurance Co. has no duty to defend Sony Corp. of America and Sony Computer Entertainment America in litigation stemming from the April 2011 hacking of Sony Corp.’s PlayStation online services. Ruling on the…
Be Careful Beating Up Target (Part 1)
Craig Carpenter of AccessData writes: A flurry of stories surfaced this week, including those in Bloomberg BusinessWeek and InformationWeek, highlighting signals of compromise that Target apparently “missed” or even “ignored”, resulting in the theft of 40 million credit card accounts. Clearly the Target breach was serious and wide-ranging, as it affected a large number of customers and even hit…
Courts Reining In What it Means to be a “Hacker” Under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA)
Ralph C. Losey of Jackson Lewis writes: The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (“CFAA”) is an anti-hacker statute that prohibits unauthorized access, or the exceeding of authorized access, of computers connected to interstate commerce. 18 U.S.C. § 1030. Violators are subject to both criminal and civil liability. Employers have long taken advantage of the CFAA’s civil remedies to “sue former employees…
Ohio AG seeks harsher ID theft penalties for those victimizing service members
The AP reports: Ohio’s attorney general and two state lawmakers are pushing for harsher penalties against scammers who commit identity fraud and other theft crimes against active-duty service members and their spouses. The bill from Republican state Reps. Mike Dovilla and Terry Blair amends the current identity fraud and theft laws to increase penalties for…