Cybersecurity & Privacy

  • October 29, 2024

    'Breathtaking' Pentagon Leak Merits 16 Years, Feds Say

    Prosecutors urged a federal judge on Tuesday to sentence a former Massachusetts Air National Guardsman to more than 16 years in prison for posting top secret military documents to the social media platform Discord, calling the crimes a historic and "breathtaking" betrayal of national security.

  • October 29, 2024

    FCC, Calif. Agency To Team Up To Protect Privacy

    The Federal Communications Commission is going to be teaming up with one of California's consumer protection agencies to enforce privacy rights in the Golden State, the pair announced Tuesday.

  • October 29, 2024

    ByteDance's Sanctions Bid Against Ex-Worker Delays Trial

    A California federal judge delayed a trial in a wrongful termination lawsuit filed by an engineer formerly at TikTok's parent company ByteDance, directing the parties on Tuesday to instead submit briefing on the defendants' motion to terminate the case as a sanction for the plaintiff's alleged destruction of evidence and perjury.

  • October 29, 2024

    US Finalizes Investment Ban On Chinese Emerging Tech

    The Biden administration finalized plans to ban U.S. investors from funding emerging Chinese technology, saying the restrictions are necessary to prevent Beijing from advancing technologies critical to its military modernization campaign. 

  • October 29, 2024

    Epic Urges 9th Circ. Not To Pause Google Play Store Fixes

    Epic Games Inc. has fired back against Google's request the Ninth Circuit issue an emergency stay pausing a lower court's antitrust injunction that would require Google to open up its Play Store to competing app stores, slamming Google's arguments as "scattershot," misleading and legally unfounded.

  • October 29, 2024

    Developer Can't Revive COVID-19 App Suit Against Apple

    A California federal judge declined to revive an antitrust suit against Apple for not distributing a COVID-19 tracking app on its app store, saying a Ninth Circuit denial of the app maker's appeal after the case was dismissed in district court "is the law" of the case.

  • October 29, 2024

    Lawmakers Want Update On Copyright Office's AI Reports

    The U.S. Copyright Office is late in submitting reports on the intersection of artificial intelligence and copyright law, according to a recent letter from leadership on the House committee with jurisdiction over the matter.

  • October 29, 2024

    Accellion Can't Nix Data Breach Suit Over Outdated Software

    A California federal judge refused to end a proposed data breach class action accusing Accellion of negligently failing to protect against cyberattacks on its file-sharing software, ruling that a special relationship exists between Accellion and its customers, such that it owed a duty of care to them.

  • October 29, 2024

    Philly Cops Lose Free Speech Suit Over Facebook Posts

    A group of active and former Philadelphia Police Department officers disciplined for inflammatory Facebook activity have lost their First Amendment lawsuit against the city, with a Pennsylvania federal judge ruling Tuesday that the city had the right to terminate officers for making racist, violent and otherwise offensive posts.

  • October 29, 2024

    Google Seeks To Toss Yelp's 'Self-Preferencing' Case

    Google urged a California federal court Monday to toss Yelp's case accusing the search giant of giving preference to its own local search offerings over Yelp and others, saying the review site has been "peddling these same claims to antitrust authorities around the world for over a decade."

  • October 29, 2024

    Court Closure Sought Over Taunts By Florida Gun Shop Owner

    The Connecticut Attorney General's Office urged a state judge to protect the identity of its investigator in filings and to close the courtroom during their testimony at trial in a lawsuit alleging a Florida company deceptively sold do-it-yourself gun kits, saying anonymity is needed because of the owner's online taunts.

  • October 29, 2024

    EBay, Ex-Execs Deny Fault For Harassment Of Bloggers

    Online retailer eBay and a group of former executives say a 2019 harassment campaign against a pair of Massachusetts bloggers was solely the work of rogue employees, urging a Massachusetts federal court to rule they're not liable over the episode.

  • October 29, 2024

    MVP: Morgan & Morgan's John Yanchunis

    John Yanchunis, head of the class action group at plaintiffs' injury firm Morgan & Morgan, helped secure a deal whereby Google agreed to settle claims that the search giant misled Chrome users about the privacy features of the browser's "Incognito Mode," earning him a spot among the 2024 Law360 Cybersecurity & Privacy MVPs.

  • October 28, 2024

    Tech Groups Target Fla. Law To Restrict Kids On Social Media

    A pair of tech industry trade associations are pressing a Florida federal court to strike down a new state law that would ban children under 13 and restrict 14- and 15-year-olds from social media, arguing that the measure would unconstitutionally stifle free speech and create new "honeypots" of personal data for hackers to exploit.  

  • October 28, 2024

    7th Circ. Signals Its Rulings Govern Citizens BIPA Policy Spat

    The Seventh Circuit seemed uninterested Monday in shifting focus from its own precedent to either newly certified questions or a state appellate decision to determine whether a district court correctly cleared Citizens Insurance Company of America of covering a biometric privacy suit.

  • October 28, 2024

    Apple Says Section 230 Dooms ICloud Child Porn Claims

    Apple urged a California federal judge to throw out a proposed class action Friday alleging it has engaged in "privacy-washing" by ignoring a problem with child sexual abuse material on its iCloud storage platform, arguing that the claims are barred by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

  • October 28, 2024

    Leader Of Bankers' Group Calls For Anti-Fraud Watchdogs

    The head of the nation's largest banking trade group on Monday called on Congress and the White House to establish a federal office of scam and fraud prevention to counteract the rising tide of fraud costing the U.S. tens of billions annually.

  • October 28, 2024

    FTC, DOJ Tell 9th Circ. Google Wrong On Play Store Fixes

    Federal antitrust enforcers told the Ninth Circuit there should be consequences after a jury found Google monopolized the Android app distribution market, as Google pushes to keep a court order paused in the antitrust case being brought by Epic Games.

  • October 28, 2024

    Conn. Healthcare Co.'s $1.5M Data Breach Deal Gets Final OK

    A Connecticut federal judge has given his final approval to a class action settlement that requires Merritt Healthcare Advisors to pay thousands of people whose personal information was exposed in a data breach.

  • October 28, 2024

    Mass. Court's Wiretap Ruling May Be Bad Omen For Plaintiffs

    A ruling by the Massachusetts high court rejecting wiretap claims over website operators' use of tracking software like Meta Pixel and Google Analytics shows the steep climb plaintiffs may continue to face as they try to apply older laws to modern technologies, experts told Law360.

  • October 28, 2024

    Denver Law Firm Faces Class Action Over Data Breach

    The former spouse of a Sherr Puttmann Akins Lamb PC client has launched a putative class action in Colorado state court alleging that sensitive information she provided to the Denver-based family law firm, including her Social Security number, ended up on the dark web following a data breach.

  • October 28, 2024

    CrowdStrike Fires Back At Delta In IT Outage Blame Game

    CrowdStrike filed a federal lawsuit against Delta Air Lines on Friday, the same day the airline filed a $500 million complaint in Georgia state court blaming the cybersecurity firm for implementing "untested and faulty updates" to its software that knocked out computers with Microsoft Windows operating systems worldwide.

  • October 28, 2024

    King & Spalding Adds White & Case Antitrust Litigator In NY

    King & Spalding LLP is expanding its business litigation team, announcing Monday it is bringing in a White & Case LLP litigator as a partner in its New York office to boost its antitrust capabilities.

  • October 28, 2024

    MVP: Dechert's Brenda Sharton

    Dechert LLP partner Brenda Sharton helped the developer of a popular "magic avatar" app shake sprawling class claims that its AI-generated portraits unlawfully harvest Illinois residents' biometric data, earning her a place among the 2024 Law360 Cybersecurity & Privacy MVPs.

  • October 25, 2024

    AI Surge, Vendor Risks Fuel Election Security Concerns

    The explosion of the tech known as artificial intelligence and persistent vendor security holes are amplifying longstanding concerns about efforts by hostile nations and other cyberattackers to disrupt and discredit U.S. elections as officials work to guard against both familiar and novel risks.

Expert Analysis

  • AI Art Ruling Shows Courts' Training Data Cases Approach

    Author Photo

    A California federal court’s recent ruling in Andersen v. Stability AI, where the judge refused to throw out artists’ copyright infringement claims against four companies that make or distribute software that creates images from text prompts, provides insight into how courts are handling artificial intelligence training data cases, say attorneys at Skadden.

  • Why Attorneys Should Consider Community Leadership Roles

    Author Photo

    Volunteering and nonprofit board service are complementary to, but distinct from, traditional pro bono work, and taking on these community leadership roles can produce dividends for lawyers, their firms and the nonprofit causes they support, says Katie Beacham at Kilpatrick.

  • 'Pig Butchering': The Scam That Exploits Crypto Confusion

    Author Photo

    Certain red flags can tip off banks to possible "pig-butchering," and with the scam's increasing popularity, financial institutions need to take action to monitor entry points into the crypto space, detect suspicious activity and provide a necessary backstop to protect customers, say Brandon Essig and Mary Parrish McCracken at Lightfoot Franklin.

  • Opinion

    Agencies Should Reward Corporate Cyber Victim Cooperation

    Author Photo

    The increased regulatory scrutiny on corporate victims of cyberattacks — exemplified by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's case against SolarWinds — should be replaced with a new model that provides adequate incentives for companies to come forward proactively and collaborate with law enforcement, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • Firms Must Offer A Trifecta Of Services In Post-Chevron World

    Author Photo

    After the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo decision overturning Chevron deference, law firms will need to integrate litigation, lobbying and communications functions to keep up with the ramifications of the ruling and provide adequate counsel quickly, says Neil Hare at Dentons.

  • What We Know From Early Cyberinsurance Rulings

    Author Photo

    Recent cyber disruption incidents, like the Crowdstrike outage and the CDK Global cyberattack this summer, highlight the necessity of understanding legal interpretations of cyberinsurance coverage — an area in which there has been little litigation thus far, say Peter Halprin and Rebecca Schwarz at Haynes Boone.

  • 5 Tips To Succeed In A Master Of Laws Program And Beyond

    Author Photo

    As lawyers and recent law school graduates begin their Master of Laws coursework across the country, they should keep a few pointers in mind to get the most out of their programs and kick-start successful careers in their practice areas, says Kelley Miller at Reed Smith.

  • Series

    Being An Opera Singer Made Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    My journey from the stage to the courtroom has shown that the skills I honed as an opera singer – punctuality, memorization, creativity and more – have all played a vital role in my success as an attorney, says Gerard D'Emilio at GableGotwals.

  • Until Congress Acts, EDNY 'Insider Betting' Case Is Premature

    Author Photo

    The Eastern District of New York’s novel wire fraud conspiracy indictment in U.S. v. Pham may have prematurely heralded a new era in federal gambling enforcement, but in the absence of an “insider betting” statute, sportsbooks — not prosecutors — should be responsible for enforcing their terms of use, says attorney Jonathan Savella.

  • How Law Firms Can Avoid 'Collaboration Drag'

    Author Photo

    Law firm decision making can be stifled by “collaboration drag” — characterized by too many pointless meetings, too much peer feedback and too little dissent — but a few strategies can help stakeholders improve decision-making processes and build consensus, says Steve Groom at Miles Mediation.

  • Election Outlook: A Precedent Primer On Content Moderation

    Author Photo

    With the 2024 election season now in full swing, online platforms will face difficult and politically sensitive decisions about content moderation, but U.S. Supreme Court decisions from last term offer much-needed certainty about their rights, say Jonathan Blavin and Helen White at Munger Tolles.

  • What BIPA Reform Law Means For Biometrics Litigation

    Author Photo

    A recently signed Illinois law amending the Biometric Information Privacy Act limits defendants' liability exposure on a per-scan basis and clarifies that electronic signatures constitute a valid written release, establishing additional issues that courts will need to address in future BIPA litigation, say attorneys at Faegre Drinker.

  • 6 Considerations To Determine If A Cyber Incident Is Material

    Author Photo

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent guidance on material cybersecurity incidents covers a range of ransomware scenarios, from a company paying a sum and regaining operations to recovering payment via cyberinsurance, but makes it clear that no single factor determines whether a cybersecurity incident is material, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.

  • Opinion

    Litigation Funding Disclosure Key To Open, Impartial Process

    Author Photo

    Blanket investor and funding agreement disclosures should be required in all civil cases where the investor has a financial interest in the outcome in order to address issues ranging from potential conflicts of interest to national security concerns, says Bob Goodlatte, former U.S. House Representative for Virginia.

  • Series

    After Chevron: What To Expect In Consumer Protection At FTC

    Author Photo

    Although the Federal Trade Commission's bread-and-butter consumer protection law enforcement actions are unlikely to be affected, the Loper Bright decision may curb the FTC's bolder interpretations of the statutes it enforces, says Mary Engle at BBB National Programs.

Want to publish in Law360?


Submit an idea

Have a news tip?


Contact us here
Can't find the article you're looking for? Click here to search the Cybersecurity & Privacy archive.
Hello! I'm Law360's automated support bot.

How can I help you today?

For example, you can type:
  • I forgot my password
  • I took a free trial but didn't get a verification email
  • How do I sign up for a newsletter?
Ask a question!