Data Breach Archives

Aug 30, 2019

FYI – לידיעתך

With August now concluded, and with it the unofficial end to the summer vacation season, we thought it would be useful to review two areas of law that we frequently see being relevant to our Israeli clients who have operations in the United States. The first is an employment law topic that is a common source of error, especially for overseas companies with U.S. operations. The second topic is when a contract’s choice of law will be respected by the Courts. When Can Someone Be Classified an Independent Contractor? On a fairly routine basis, our clients from Israel approach us about bringing… Read more

Aug 29, 2019

No Place To Hide – The Effect of a Data Breach on Brand Value

This Blog is Co-Authored by James Bikoff, Smith, Gambrell & Russell, LLP; Nicole DelleDonne, Brandsight, Inc.; and Susan Natland, Knobbe Martens Almost every week, a brand owner discloses that a data breach has occurred. As trademark professionals and ambassadors of our organization’s and client’s brands, the effect of a data breach goes far beyond the concrete costs and resources in dealing with the breach. Studies have shown and common sense supports that a data breach can cause substantial damage to brand value due to harm to the goodwill in a brand and loss of consumer trust. Thus, data breaches are not… Read more

Jul 2, 2018

Data Breaches and Standing

In Collins v. Athens Orthopedic Clinic, Case No. A18A0296 (decided June 27, 2018), the Georgia Court of Appeals addressed the issue of whether an individual whose personally-identifiable information (“PII”) was stolen from a business in a computer hack had standing to pursue damages claims against the business that was hacked. The plaintiffs in the Collins case were current and former patients of the defendant clinic. A hacker had gained access to the clinic’s computers and stolen patient PII maintained in a clinic database. The hacker requested ransom from the clinic, which the clinic did not pay. The hacker allegedly offered… Read more

Jul 31, 2017

Commercial Litigation Versus Other Civil Litigation, and Emerging Commercial Litigation Trends

Introducing the Smith, Gambrell & Russell’s Litigation Blog The litigation attorneys of Smith, Gambrell & Russell, LLP are proud to announce the launch of the firm’s Litigation Blog, which covers trending news and hot topics in the area of commercial litigation. The firm’s litigators have handled commercial disputes and trials for decades, and we are excited to share our experience, insight and thought leadership on a wide range of timely litigation issues that impact businesses. To kick things off, the first post on the Litigation Blog offers an overview of commercial litigation versus other types of civil litigation, and emerging commercial… Read more

Apr 16, 2015

2015 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report Released

Earlier this week, Verizon released its annual Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR) for 2015. In the DBIR, Verizon, along with about 70 contributing organizations, presents an extensive survey and analysis of patterns and lessons from significant data breaches over the prior year. While the 2015 DBIR offers a broad range of data breach information, among the notable trends observed are the following: 90% of breaches are attributable to miscellaneous errors (29.4%), crimeware (25.1%), insider misuse (20.6%), and lost or stolen devices (15.3%) Among miscellaneous errors, cases of misdelivery and inadvertent posting or publishing of data made up almost half of… Read more

Apr 9, 2015

FCC Steps Up Data Enforcement Role With $25 Million Fine

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced yesterday that it has entered into a settlement with AT&T Services, Inc. as a result of the FCC’s investigation of a series of data breaches during 2013 and 2014 at AT&T call centers in Mexico, Colombia, and the Philippines. As part of the settlement, AT&T must pay a $25 million civil money penalty — the largest data enforcement ever imposed by the FCC for data privacy and security concerns — provide data breach notification to affected customers and offer those customers credit monitoring services. The data breaches involved over 40 employees who stole sensitive… Read more