Linn Foster Freedman

Linn Foster Freedman

Linn Freedman practices in data privacy and security law, and complex litigation. She is a member of the Business Litigation Group and chair’s the firm’s Data Privacy and Security Team. She currently serves as general counsel to the Rhode Island Quality Institute. Linn focuses her practice on compliance with all state and federal privacy and security laws and regulations, as well as emergency data breach response and mitigation. She counsels clients on state and federal data privacy and security investigations and data breaches. Prior to joining the firm, Linn was a partner at Nixon Peabody, where she served as leader of the firm’s Privacy & Data Protection Group. She also served as assistant attorney general and deputy chief of the Civil Division of the Attorney General’s Office for the State of Rhode Island. She earned her J.D. from Loyola University School of Law and her B.A., with honors, in American Studies from Newcomb College of Tulane University. She is admitted to practice law in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Read her full rc.com bio here.

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Manufacturing Sector Getting Hit with Cyber-Attacks: Portable Oxygen Device Manufacturer Notifies 30,000 Patients of Breach

By Linn Foster Freedman on Posted in Cybersecurity
Inogen, which manufactures portable oxygen devices, has alerted the Securities and Exchange Commission in a recent filing that it is notifying 30,000 individuals that their personal information was compromised when a hacker gained access to one of its employees’ email accounts through a phishing scheme. The incident illustrates how the manufacturing sector is continuing to … Continue Reading

HHS Warns Health Care Organizations About SamSam Ransomware

By Linn Foster Freedman on Posted in Cybersecurity
The health care industry continues to get hammered by SamSam ransomware attacks, to the point that the Department of Health and Human Services Healthcare Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (HCCIC) has issued a report outlining the danger of ongoing SamSam ransomware campaigns, with tips to help organizations detect and block SamSam. According to the report, … Continue Reading

Privacy Tip #135 – Cybersecurity Spring Cleaning Tips

By Linn Foster Freedman on Posted in Privacy Tips
Here’s a great idea offered by the National Cyber Security Alliance and the Better Business Bureau: while you are doing your spring cleaning, don’t forget to do a digital spring cleaning too—that is, your computer, cellphone and Internet-connected devices. The tips acknowledge that we all have information contained on our computers, cellphones and mobile devices … Continue Reading

Pipeline Companies Targeted by Cyber-Attacks

By Linn Foster Freedman on Posted in Cybersecurity
Reports show that U.S. energy companies reported more than 350 cybersecurity incidents to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security between 2011 and 2015. Pipeline companies are included in that statistic. Last week, Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) notified its oil and gas shippers that its pipeline network system was hacked. According to ETP, the hacking targeted … Continue Reading

New Jersey AG Fines Virtua Medical Group $418,000 for Data Breach Caused by Vendor

By Linn Foster Freedman on Posted in Health Information Privacy, HIPAA and Health Information
The New Jersey Attorney General’s office announced this week that it has fined Virtua Medical Group, which is comprised of more than 50 medical practices in New Jersey, for failing to protect the privacy of 1,650 patients when their medical information was accessible online. The information was uploaded to a password-protected FTP website, but during … Continue Reading

Outcome Health Settles TCPA Class Action Suit

By Linn Foster Freedman on Posted in Telephone Consumer Protection Act
Ever notice the flatscreen TVs and tablets in your doctor’s office that run different health-related and wellness stories? Many of them are provided by Outcome Health, which installs free TVs and tablets in doctor’s offices to provide educational material to patients while they are sitting in the waiting room. The company makes its money by … Continue Reading

Busy Data Breach Week

By Linn Foster Freedman on Posted in Data Breach
Unfortunately, it was another busy data breach week. Here’s a summary of the major ones. Delta Airlines admitted in a statement that the payment card data of several hundred thousand customers might have been compromised by malware between September 26 and October 12, 2017, through a third-party vendor ([24]7.ai that provides online chat services to … Continue Reading

Power Company Fined for Contractor Copying Data to its Own Insecure Network

By Linn Foster Freedman on Posted in Cybersecurity
Vendor management continues to be a problem for all industries, but some are scarier than others. The North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) recently provided notice to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that an unidentified power company has reached a settlement with the Western Electricity Coordinating Council for $2.7 million to resolve two violations of … Continue Reading

Energy Sector: Hit Hard and Worried

By Linn Foster Freedman on Posted in Cybersecurity
One only needs to read the headlines to understand that critical infrastructure in the U.S., including the energy sector, is an obvious target for malicious actors. According to a new report by Marsh, entitled “Could Energy Industry Dynamics be Creating an Impending Cyber Storm?”, more than one in four respondents of a survey aimed at … Continue Reading

NIST Issues Energy Sector Asset Management Project

By Linn Foster Freedman on Posted in Cybersecurity
According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the energy sector relies on industrial control systems assets to “generate, transmit, and distribute power and to drill, produce, refine, and transport oil and natural gas.” These industrial control systems include supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems, distributed control systems, programmable logic controllers and … Continue Reading

Privacy Tip #132 – Social Security Fraud

By Linn Foster Freedman on Posted in Privacy Tips
As our readers know, I am particularly interested in protecting our seniors from fraud. They continue to be a vulnerable population and unfortunately, here is another scam that makes me mad: social security fraud. Many elect to have their social security payments deposited by direct deposit, and in fact, it is required by the Social … Continue Reading

Oregon Strengthens Data Breach Reporting Law

By Linn Foster Freedman on Posted in Data Breach
Oregon Governor Kate Brown recently signed a new data breach reporting law (S. 1551) that toughens the state’s existing requirements. The new law requires companies to notify individuals within 45 days after a data breach has been discovered, unless a delay in notification is requested by law enforcement. It expands the definition of personal information … Continue Reading

Orbitz Confirms Breach of Travel Records and Credit Card Information of 880,000 Individuals

By Linn Foster Freedman on Posted in Data Breach
Orbitz, the travel booking entity that is owned by Expedia, has confirmed that it has “identified and remediated a data security incident affecting a legacy travel booking platform.” This means that one of its older websites that are used by customers to book their travel plans was hacked. The statement says that Orbitz uncovered evidence earlier … Continue Reading

Verizon Protected Health Information Data Breach Report Concludes that Insiders Are Greatest Threat to Health Care Entities

By Linn Foster Freedman on Posted in Cybersecurity, Data Breach, Health Information Privacy
Verizon recently issued its Protected Health Information (PHI) Data Breach Report, which is always an interesting read. Not surprisingly, Verizon’s report concludes that based upon analysis of 1,360 security incidents involving the health care sector, 58 percent of the incidents were caused by insiders and 42 percent were caused by external threats. Insider threats can … Continue Reading

473,807 Patient Records Compromised in January, 2018—83 Percent Caused by Hacking Incidents

By Linn Foster Freedman on Posted in Cybersecurity, Data Breach, Health Information Privacy
The recently released Protenus Healthcare Breach Barometer report notes that in January, 2018, at least 473,807 patient records were compromised in 37 breaches reported to the Office for Civil Rights. Twelve of the reported breaches were attributable to insiders, which was 32 percent of the data breaches reported in January. Seven of those incidents were … Continue Reading

Facebook Can’t Shake Illinois Biometric Proposed Class Action Case

By Linn Foster Freedman on Posted in Enforcement & Litigation
We have previously reported on Facebook’s fight against a proposed class action case alleging violation of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). Facebook continues to fight the allegation that its collection and storage of users’ and non-users’ facial scans through the use of facial recognition technology violates BIPA, and has filed a Motion to … Continue Reading
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