Cybersecurity & Privacy

  • November 15, 2024

    Social Media Cos. Must Face Schools' Public Nuisance Claims

    Meta Platforms and other social media giants must face most of the public nuisance claims brought by school districts and local government entities in multidistrict litigation alleging the companies designed their platforms to addict children, a California federal judge ruled Friday.

  • November 15, 2024

    Atty-Brother Feud Belongs In State Court, Mich. Judge Finds

    A Michigan federal judge won't weigh in on a spat between an attorney and his former cannabis business partner brother, who is accused of shorting him $18 million as part of a buyout agreement, saying the dispute should stay in state court.

  • November 15, 2024

    Ill. Biometric Privacy Changes Apply Retroactively, Judge Says

    The Illinois legislature's recent move to limit businesses' exposure under the state's landmark biometric privacy law applies to disputes that were brought before the change was approved, a federal judge has ruled in tossing a lawsuit over a transportation company's allegedly unlawful collection of an employee's fingerprints. 

  • November 15, 2024

    EPA Watchdog Flags Drinking Water Cybersecurity Risks

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's internal watchdog is sounding the alarm about cybersecurity weaknesses in the nation's drinking water systems, and said there are problems with the plans for reporting and coordinating responses to attacks.

  • November 15, 2024

    Tech Co. Salesman Settles Ex-Employer's AI Misuse Claims

    A Connecticut salesman accused of using an artificial intelligence application to record company conference calls and his former employer have settled the company's trade secrets lawsuit, according to a joint request filed Friday seeking a permanent injunction.

  • November 15, 2024

    Wash. Judge Says Junk Text Suit Must Lose Autodialer Claims

    Consumers who were peppered with hundreds of unwanted text messages from a home improvement platform can move forward with their $400 million lawsuit accusing the company of ignoring the Do Not Call Registry, but will lose their autodialer claims, a Washington federal judge has ruled.

  • November 15, 2024

    Paxton Says Texas Porn Site Law 'Modest' Way To End 'Crisis'

    Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton told the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday that a state law requiring visitors to prove their age before accessing content on certain adult-oriented websites is tailored in the most "modest" way possible to address a "public health crisis."

  • November 15, 2024

    Hot Topic Shoppers' Info Stolen By 'Satanic' Hacker, Suit Says

    Hot Topic and its retail affiliates were hit with a proposed class action Wednesday in California federal court alleging an unknown hacker with the username "Satanic" infiltrated their databases containing personal information belonging to 350 million customers and offered to sell the information on an internet forum last month.

  • November 15, 2024

    Secure Software Co. Investor Sues In Del. For Deal Docs

    An investor in a "public benefit" company that provides sensitive software to government agencies and allies sued the business Friday in Delaware Chancery Court, seeking documents on a stock purchase agreement and other moves purportedly made without required consents.

  • November 15, 2024

    Plaintiffs Ask To Seal $8.5M Data Breach Deal With Gunster

    Plaintiffs in a proposed data breach class action asked a Florida federal court Thursday to let them file under seal an $8.5 million settlement agreement to resolve accusations that Florida corporate law firm Gunster failed to safeguard the personal information of nearly 10,000 clients, employees and other individuals from cybercriminals.

  • November 15, 2024

    Ga. Law Firm Hit With Proposed Class Action Over Data Breach

    Atlanta-based personal injury law firm Montlick & Associates PC has been hit with a proposed class action in Georgia federal court over an August data breach that compromised the private information of clients and employees.

  • November 15, 2024

    Mercer University Reaches Deal To End Data Breach Claims

    A group of former Mercer University students and a professor asked a Georgia federal judge to preliminarily approve a settlement that would end a class action accusing the college of not protecting the personal information of more than 93,000 people from hackers during a 2023 data breach.

  • November 14, 2024

    Bitfinex Hacker Gets 5 Years For Laundering Stolen Crypto

    A hacker was sentenced in Washington, D.C., federal court on Thursday to five years in prison for laundering hundreds of thousands of bitcoins now worth more than $10 billion that he stole from cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex.

  • November 14, 2024

    Calif. Privacy Agency Inks 1st Settlements With Data Brokers

    The California Privacy Protection Agency has issued its first monetary penalties in its almost four-year existence, announcing Thursday that a pair of data brokers would pay nearly $70,000 to resolve claims that they failed to comply with the registration requirements of a groundbreaking state data deletion law. 

  • November 14, 2024

    DOD Wants Contractors To Report Foreign Code Sharing

    The U.S. Department of Defense issued a proposed rule on Thursday requiring technology and weapons vendors to reveal whether they share source code with foreign governments, in an effort to curb potential cybersecurity risks.

  • November 14, 2024

    Webex 'Disrupters' Posing As Colo. Judges Force Tech Swap

    Colorado's chief justice said Thursday that a growth in "digital court disrupters" has prompted the state judicial department to start looking for a new software platform for hosting online court hearings, saying bad actors had started posing as justices to gain admittance to virtual courtrooms.

  • November 14, 2024

    Ga. Sheriff Accused Of Censoring Critics After Burger Scandal

    A metro Atlanta sheriff elected to another four-year term last week has been sued by his vanquished Republican opponent, who alleged in Atlanta federal court that the sheriff censored comments on his office's social media accounts that were critical of his use of deputies in a flap over a burger order.

  • November 14, 2024

    47 AGs Support FCC's Robocall Database Reforms

    A bipartisan coalition of 47 attorneys general encouraged the Federal Communications Commission to implement new rules aimed at improving the effectiveness of the Robocall Mitigation Database, or RMD, writing in a comment letter that the database is "currently one of the most important sources of information available for anti-robocall enforcement actions."

  • November 14, 2024

    Gaetz's Slim Legal Resume Raises Concerns Over AG Role

    Having never served as a prosecutor and with minimal experience practicing law, Matt Gaetz would have the thinnest legal resume of any attorney general in recent history and would face a steep learning curve, including daunting leadership challenges, if he were to take up the reins of the U.S. Department of Justice, experts say.

  • November 14, 2024

    Duo Charged With Hacking Tax Firms In Refund Fraud Scheme

    Boston federal prosecutors have unsealed charges against two men who allegedly used information hacked and stolen from Massachusetts tax preparation firms to pocket more than $1.3 million from fraudulent tax returns.

  • November 14, 2024

    Settlement Reached In Ga. Data Breach Class Action

    The companies behind high-interest loan products TitleMax, TitleBucks and InstaLoan have reached a tentative settlement with customers who alleged the companies failed to protect their personal information, leading to a data breach that affected an estimated 4.8 million people.

  • November 14, 2024

    EU Clears Consortium's €2.2B Bid For Cybersecurity Biz

    The European Commission said Thursday that it has cleared the approximately €2.2 billion ($2.4 billion) acquisition of French cybersecurity firm Exclusive Networks by its biggest shareholder Permira and U.S. private equity firm Clayton Dubilier & Rice.

  • November 13, 2024

    Chinese Hackers Stole Call Data From Telecom Cos., Feds Say

    The FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency announced Wednesday that they have identified individuals associated with the Chinese government who have hacked into the networks of multiple telecommunications companies in search of private communications of people involved in government and political activity.

  • November 13, 2024

    TikTok Asks To Keep NC AG's Addiction Complaint Redacted

    TikTok Inc. is asking a North Carolina state court to keep redacted portions of a complaint by the state alleging that it targets youth to make them compulsive and addicted users, saying parts of the complaint include information from confidential documents and trade secrets.

  • November 13, 2024

    FTX Prosecutors Tout Tech Chief's 'Outstanding Cooperation'

    Manhattan federal prosecutors urged a lenient sentence for former FTX technology chief Zixiao "Gary" Wang, telling the court on Wednesday that his "outstanding cooperation" was instrumental in securing the lightning-fast indictment and ultimate conviction of founder Sam Bankman-Fried for an $11 billion fraud that sank the crypto exchange.

Expert Analysis

  • Empathy In Mediation Offers A Soft Landing For Disputes

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    Experiencing a crash-landing on a recent flight underscored to me how much difference empathy makes in times of crisis or stress, including during mediation, says Eydith Kaufman at Alternative Resolution Centers.

  • Series

    Being An Artist Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My work as an artist has highlighted how using creativity and precision together — qualities that are equally essential in both art and law — not only improves outcomes, but also leads to more innovative and thoughtful work, says Sarah La Pearl at Segal McCambridge.

  • How Judiciary Can Minimize AI Risks In Secondary Sources

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    Because courts’ standing orders on generative artificial intelligence and other safeguards do not address the risk of hallucinations in secondary source materials, the judiciary should consider enlisting legal publishers and database hosts to protect against AI-generated inaccuracies, say attorneys at Lankler Siffert & Wohl.

  • 3 Steps For Companies To Combat Task Scams

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    On the rise in the U.S., the task scam — when scammers offer a victim a fake work-from-home job — hurts impersonated businesses by tarnishing their name and brand, but companies have a few ways to fight back against these cons, says Chris Wlach at Huge.

  • How Attorneys Can Break Free From Career Enmeshment

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    Ambitious attorneys can sometimes experience career enmeshment — when your sense of self-worth becomes unhealthily tangled up in your legal vocation — but taking the time to discover and realign with your core personal values can help you recover your identity, says Janna Koretz at Azimuth Psychological.

  • Where Can Privacy Plaintiffs Sue When Injury Is Online?

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    Website owners need to understand wiretapping laws to understand whether they may be sued for activity tracking in California or Pennsylvania courts, where the statutory damages for violations of half-century-old laws can be substantial — and a recent Third Circuit decision suggests establishing specific jurisdiction is not as easy as 1-2-3, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

  • UCC Article 12 Offers Banks A Chance To Dive Into 'DePINs'

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    The 2022 update to Article 12 of the Uniform Commercial Code, which provides a legal framework for decentralized physical infrastructure networks, could offer trade and commodity finance banks attractive opportunities, like the energy-related DePIN projects that have recently made headlines, says Chris McDermott at Cadwalader.

  • Lawyers With Disabilities Are Seeking Equity, Not Pity

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    Attorneys living with disabilities face extra challenges — including the need for special accommodations, the fear of stigmatization and the risk of being tokenized — but if given equitable opportunities, they can still rise to the top of their field, says Kate Reder Sheikh, a former attorney and legal recruiter at Major Lindsey & Africa.

  • Lessons For Municipalities Facing Cyberattacks

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    With municipal IT teams facing the daunting task of keeping agencies operational while safeguarding sensitive government data, including residents' and employees' personally identifiable information, there are steps a municipality can take to guard against a major cyberattack, say attorneys at Pillsbury.

  • Opinion

    Judicial Committee Best Venue For Litigation Funding Rules

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    The Advisory Committee on Civil Rules' recent decision to consider developing a rule for litigation funding disclosure is a welcome development, ensuring that the result will be the product of a thorough, inclusive and deliberative process that appropriately balances all interests, says Stewart Ackerly at Statera Capital.

  • The Strategic Advantages Of Appointing A Law Firm CEO

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    The impact on law firms of the recent CrowdStrike outage underscores that the business of law is no longer merely about providing supplemental support for legal practice — and helps explain why some law firms are appointing dedicated, full-time CEOs to navigate the challenges of the modern legal landscape, says Jennifer Johnson at Calibrate Strategies.

  • Planning For Cyber Incident Reporting Requirements In Sports

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    Attorneys at Wiley discuss the proposed rules under the Cybersecurity Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act that would impose extensive reporting requirements on professional and collegiate athletic organizations, universities and sports venues, including defining a covered entity and analyzing the types of events that would trigger reporting.

  • Series

    Beekeeping Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    The practice of patent law and beekeeping are not typically associated, but taking care of honeybees has enriched my legal practice by highlighting the importance of hands-on experience, continuous learning, mentorship and more, says David Longo at Oblon McClelland.

  • 6 Tips For Cos. Facing Service Provider Cyber Incidents

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    When a third-party service provider experiences a cybersecurity incident, businesses may wonder if their information is compromised and if their systems are safe, but there are certain steps that can help businesses prepare for and respond to targeted attacks on vendors, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.

  • Opinion

    Legal Institutions Must Warn Against Phony Election Suits

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    With two weeks until the election, bar associations and courts have an urgent responsibility to warn lawyers about the consequences of filing unsubstantiated lawsuits claiming election fraud, says Elise Bean at the Carl Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy.

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