Jeff Kosseff writes: Based on the extensive news coverage of this week’s court ruling against Wyndham Hotels and Resorts in its battle with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), one would think that the sky is falling on efforts to resist FTC enforcement actions relating to data security. Adweek wrote that the case is “a test for…
Category: Federal
Federal court ruling in Carnegie Strategic Design Engineers v. Cloherty applies narrow interpretation of CFAA
Robert R. Baron, Jr., David S. Fryman, Corinne Militello, and Philip N. Yannella of Ballard Spahr write: A Pennsylvania federal magistrate judge has tossed an employer’s claims under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), holding that the CFAA does not extend to punish employees for the misuse of information that was accessed with permission….
Fandango, Credit Karma Settle FTC Charges that They Deceived Consumers By Failing to Securely Transmit Sensitive Personal Information
Two companies have agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that they misrepresented the security of their mobile apps and failed to secure the transmission of millions of consumers’ sensitive personal information from their mobile apps. The FTC alleged that, despite their security promises, Fandango and Credit Karma failed to take reasonable steps to secure…
Judge Refuses to Dismiss Confession, Evidence in Reuters Employee Hacking Case
Kim Zetter reports: A federal judge has refused to dismiss a recorded confession and computer evidence collected in the case of a former Reuters employee accused of conspiring with members of Anonymous to hack his former employer. Matthew Keys, 26, sought to throw out his confession on the grounds that he was on an antidepressant…
Prosecutors Admit They Don’t Understand What Weev Did, But They’re Sure It’s Like Blowing Up A Nuclear Plant
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…
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…