The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) finalized its recommendations on September 6, 2017 on how to secure interoperable medical devices’ interactions with other devices and information systems. The FDA’s initial guidance, drafted in January 2016, was designed to help manufacturers develop safe, secure information exchange systems in connected medical devices. The updated guidance
data security
Are Your Security Tools Up to Date?
The effects of the massive cyberattack using ransomware known as “Wanna Cry” are still being felt all over the world. Tens of thousands of organizations have been infected, including the UK’s National Health Service, which ran some services on an emergency-only basis the day the attack began in earnest. Some security experts surmise…
New Mexico Enacts Data Breach Notification Law; Tennessee Reinstates Encryption Safe Harbor
New Mexico is the 48th state to enact a data breach law. That law, the Data Breach Notification Act (HB15), is scheduled to take effect on June 16, 2017. Alabama and South Dakota are now the only states without a data breach notification law.
The New Mexico law is like other state breach notification laws…
NIST Issues New Update to Cybersecurity Framework
On January 10, 2017, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released an update to its Cybersecurity Framework, first issued in 2014. The Framework focuses on using business drivers to guide cybersecurity activities and considering cybersecurity risks as part of the organization’s risk management processes. The new draft provides details on managing cyber supply…
NTIA Steps into IoT Debate
Continuing its tradition of active involvement in digital economy questions, the Department of Commerce’s (DOC) National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) issued a request for public comment on questions posed by the growth of the Internet of Things (IoT). The explosive growth of connected products, anticipated to reach 25 billion by 2020, is one reason…
Appeals Court Agrees That Health Solutions Provider’s Insurance Requires Defense in Data Disclosure Class Action
Availability of insurance is often among the first questions that arises when a company encounters a data breach or other Internet-related problem involving company records, even where the company lacks a cyberinsurance policy. The federal Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals recently affirmed a ruling by a District Court that required insurance coverage for an inadvertent…
The FCC Continues Privacy Push with Draft Proposal Regulating ISP Customers’ Data

On the heels of the Open Internet Order adopted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) last year, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has circulated a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to fellow Commissioners that would apply the privacy protections of the Communications Act to…
New Year, New Cyber Law
In the rush of holidays and storms around the country (and weirdly warm weather here in D.C.), it was easy to miss that Congress finally approved the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA). The bill was included in the middle of its omnibus spending package, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016, Pub. L. 114–113 (Dec. 18,…
Life After the U.S.–EU Safe Harbor
We’ve written about the ground-breaking and panic-inducing ruling of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) invalidating the U.S.–EU Safe Harbor framework as an adequate data transfer mechanism, and ruling that national authorities are not bound by Commission approvals. Click here for our September 23, 2015 blog post, and here for a related October 16, 2015…
Article 29 WP Says Safe Harbor Transfers Illegal; Model Clauses and BCRs Under Review
The Article 29 Working Party (WP) issued a press release on October 16, 2015 announcing the outcome of the meeting to discuss coordinated action after the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) decision in the matter of Schrems v. Data Protection Commissioner (C-362-14), which invalidated the U.S.-EU Safe Harbor Agreement. While calling for…