Ransomware Demands Increase for Municipalities

The trend of hitting local municipalities with ransomware attacks has continued this summer, along with increased monetary demands. In a recent attack, a small city outside of Jacksonville, Florida had its computers totally disabled when a hacker infiltrated its system and demanded bitcoin in exchange for the city’s data. For several days, the city attempted to resolve the issue without paying by working with the FBI and a security consultant. While these attempts may have eventually been successful, the city ultimately determined that paying the Continue Reading

Cyber Insurance: Enabler of Ransomware Events? Not Quite

Ransomware is once again front and center in the news with reports of a rash of attacks on public and private entities throughout the United States. Some suggest that the proliferation of cyber insurance is fanning the flames of cyberattacks, but there is scant evidence to support that conclusion. In fact, cyber insurance merely offers insureds options in how to respond to a ransomware event. A recent ProPublica article speculates that cyber insurance’s ability to assist insured’s operations to quickly recover from a ransomware event… Continue Reading

Another Month, Another Major Data Breach – This Time at Capital One

Capital One Financial Corp., the fifth largest United States credit card issuer, announced on July 29, 2019 that a data breach exposed approximately 140,000 Social  Security numbers and about 80,000 linked bank account numbers – impacting nearly 100 million U.S. residents and 6 million Canadian residents. The breach also included other personal information like names, addresses, postal codes, phone numbers, email addresses, dates of birth and self-reported income, credit scores, credit limits, balances, payment history, contact information and fragments of transaction data from a total… Continue Reading

New York State Passes Legislation Expanding Data Security Prevention and Notification Requirements

On July 25, 2019, New York state passed a substantial expansion of its data security law in the form of two new pieces of legislation: the Identity Theft Prevention and Mitigation Services Act (ITPMS Act) and the Stop Hacks and Improve Electronic Data Security Act (SHIELD Act). The ITPMS Act is less impactful for businesses, but perhaps more useful for consumers. First, it requires credit reporting agencies that experience a breach involving Social Security numbers to give consumers the right to freeze their credit score… Continue Reading

Decision to Dismiss Suit Seeking to Hold Facebook Liable for Hamas Attacks Affirmed by the Second Circuit

The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a lawsuit seeking to hold Facebook, Inc. liable for providing Hamas, a Palestinian Islamist organization who is a U.S. designated foreign terrorist organization, a communication platform to encourage and enable acts of violence in Israel. Over three years ago, victims, estates, and family members of victims of terrorist attacks in Israel brought suit against Facebook alleging that Facebook provided material support to the terrorist organization by failing to remove content posted… Continue Reading

Part 2: Insurance Company Compliance with the CCPA as Businesses


This blog post is our second post in a multi-part series addressing what insurers need to know about the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). This post focuses on insurers’ compliance obligations under the CCPA. If you would benefit from a background discussion on the CCPA, please visit our first post in this series entitled “Part 1: The California Consumer Privacy Act – What Insurers Need to Know.” The CCPA applies to insurers to the extent they qualify as “businesses” that “collect or money Continue Reading

Biometric Class Action Against Facebook Greenlit by Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals

In an opinion article dated August 8, 2019, the Ninth Circuit Court affirmed the district court’s order certifying a class action of users who claim Facebook’s facial-recognition technology violates Illinois’s Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). A copy of the Ninth Circuit’s opinion can be found here.  At issue is Facebook’s use of facial-recognition technology without first obtaining the consent of its users. The court agreed that the plaintiffs had sufficiently alleged a concrete and particularized harm sufficient to confer Article III standing. The court… Continue Reading

Equifax Agrees to Largest Ever Data Breach Settlement

In connection with the massive 2017 Equifax data breach which affected more than 147 million consumers, a global settlement has been reached to resolve a multi-district consumer action as well as a suit brought by the Federal Trade Commission. Equifax, one of the largest consumer reporting agencies, was allegedly aware of a critical security vulnerability in March 2017. However, it failed to address the issue until July 2017, when suspicious traffic was detected. Ultimately, on September 7, 2017, Equifax announced a data breach involving… Continue Reading

Fedex Becomes Victim of Latest Spat of Large Scale Cyber-Related Securities Class Actions

As if anyone needed yet another reminder of the invasive effect a cybersecurity event can have on a business, we need not to look any further than the  putative securities fraud class action lawsuits filed against global logistics giant FedEx. On June 26, 2019, the first lawsuit against FedEx was filed in the Southern District of New York. The complaint generally alleges that FedEx violated federal securities laws when it made allegedly fraudulent disclosures concerning the extent of the impact caused by the NotPetya malware… Continue Reading

What Is Modern Warfare? Ninth Circuit Rules War Exclusions Do Not Preclude Coverage for First Party Loss Caused by Hamas Rocket Attacks

On July 12, 2019, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals found two “war” exclusions inapplicable, under California law, to a loss caused by 2014 hostilities between Israel and Hamas. Universal Cable Productions, LLC v. Atlantic Specialty Insurance Co., No. 17-56672, 2019 WL 3049034 (July 12, 2019). In doing so, the court overturned the Central District of California’s award of summary judgment in favor of Atlantic Specialty Insurance Company. The parties’ dispute arose out of Atlantic’s refusal to indemnify Universal for costs associated with Universal’s… Continue Reading