Michael Beder writes: A Seventh Circuit panel that allowed a data breach suit against Neiman Marcus to proceed misapplied the Supreme Court’s precedents on standing and, “if allowed to stand, will impose wasteful litigation burdens on retailers and the federal courts,” the retailer argues in a petition filed yesterday asking the full Seventh Circuit to rehear the…
Category: U.S.
Massachusetts Appeals Court Set to Consider Scope of Employer Liability for Employee Data Breaches
Breton Leone-Quick writes: … The legal liability of employers for data breaches by its employees is generally an underdeveloped area of the law. But a case currently pending before the Massachusetts Appeals Court will help determine the scope of this liability in Massachusetts. In the Superior Court case, Adams v. Congress Auto Insurance Agency, Inc., No. MICV2013-01322-D (Mass….
Facebook Hijacking Case Revived by 2nd Circuit
Adam Klasfeld reports: In a case involving sex, cyberbullying and the statute of limitations, a schoolteacher filed her lawsuit just in time to accuse of (sic) her ex-boyfriend of taking over her Facebook account to post obscene messages, the Second Circuit ruled on Tuesday. The court warned in its opinion that the case demonstrates the “troubling” predicament…
Hacked e-mails: Boeing wants its drones to hack computers from the sky
Jacob Bogage reports: Drone have been used to drop bombs, spy on foreign countries and monitor how farmers work their fields. Now they could help hack into personal computers. According to e-mails posted by WikiLeaks, military contractors may want to do just that. Boeing and Hacking Team — a Milan-based company criticized for selling surveillance software to repressive governments — were in talks…
SterlingBackcheck reports stolen laptop contained background check information on job applicants (updated)
On May 29, a laptop with a spread sheet containing an undisclosed number of job applicants’ names, dates of birth, and Social Security numbers was stolen from a SterlingBackcheck employee’s car. SterlingBackcheck (a trademark of Sterling Infosystems) learned of the theft on May 30, and notified law enforcement. The personal information in the spreadsheet came from two sources: the…
Higher Education Institutions Increasingly Falling Victim to Cyberattacks
Anna C. Watterson and Sean B. Hoar write: Higher education institutions are treasure troves for hackers. Colleges and universities are huge repositories of research data, sensitive information for large populations of applicants and enrolled students (personal, academic, financial and health data), as well as sensitive personal and tax information for all faculty and staff. Higher education…