Matt Fisher writes: The early days of February 2023 saw two very different settlements announced related to healthcare data breaches. One arguably follows a well-known course and the other could be a sign of things to come. After having a health breach notification rule on the books since 2009, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) had…
Category: Legislation
HHS OCR Settles HIPAA Investigation with Banner Health Following 2016 Hacking Incident
The following is a press release from HHS. It is an update to a 2016 hacking incident previously covered on this site. The incident also resulted in a class action lawsuit that was settled for $6 million in 2019. February 02, 2023 Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights…
British Columbia: Mandatory breach reporting and privacy management program requirements now in effect for public bodies
February 1, 2023 Public bodies are now required to develop privacy management programs and report privacy breaches that could be expected to result in serious harm. The new requirements, which were among amendments to the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) enacted in November 2021, came into force today. They apply to…
FTC Enforcement Action to Bar GoodRx from Sharing Consumers’ Sensitive Health Info for Advertising
The Federal Trade Commission has taken enforcement action for the first time under its Health Breach Notification Rule against the telehealth and prescription drug discount provider GoodRx Holdings Inc., for failing to notify consumers and others of its unauthorized disclosures of consumers’ personal health information to Facebook, Google, and other companies. In a first-of-its-kind proposed…
UK: Counter-attacking ransomware hackers
Thomas Rudkin of Farrer & Co writes: There is a developing line of cases in England & Wales where those who have been subject to a ransomware attack take action against the hackers through the civil courts. The question is why bother and what is the best way to go about this if that is…
NIST Requests Comments on Potential Significant Updates to the Cybersecurity Framework
Micaela McMurrough, Ashden Fein, Caleb Skeath, and Matthew Harden of Covington and Burling write: On January 19, 2023, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (“NIST”) published a Concept Paper setting out “Potential Significant Updates to the Cybersecurity Framework.” Originally released in 2014, the NIST Cybersecurity Framework (“CSF” or “Framework”) is a framework designed to assist organizations with…