Leveraging Knowledge to Manage Your Data Risks
On November 21, 2025, in a lengthy decision, U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Mark A. Kearney quashed a subpoena issued by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to Children’s Hospital of Pennsylvania’s Gender and Sexuality Development Program (CHOP) seeking documents:
(1) identifying the names, addresses, and social security numbers of…
Disney has agreed to pay $10 million and change how it labels children’s videos on YouTube to settle claims by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that the company violated federal children’s privacy laws.
The settlement resolves allegations that Disney subsidiaries Disney Worldwide Services Inc. and Disney Entertainment Operations LLC failed to properly flag some of…
On September 3, 2025, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed suit against Apitor Technology, which makes robotic toys, alleging that Apitor’s app “enabled a third party in China to collect geolocation information from children without parental consent.”
The DOJ filed suit following a referral from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that Apitor did not comply…
On August 14, 2025, the Department of Justice announced that it unsealed six warrants “authorizing the seizure of over $2.8 million in cryptocurrency, $70,000 in cash, and a luxury vehicle.” According to the press release, “all of the cryptocurrency was seized from a cryptocurrency wallet controlled by Ianis Aleksandrovich Antropenko, who is charged by indictment…
Below is an excerpt of a legal update co-authored with Government Enforcement + White Collar Defense Partner David E. Carney.
On June 17, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced settlements of alleged False Claims Act (FCA) violations associated with cybersecurity requirements in contracts to provide a secure environment for online applications for federal housing…
In an action against what has been described as one of the largest hacker forums in the world, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on April 12, 2022, that it has taken down RaidForums’ website and arrested its founder/administrator. According to DOJ, the domains seized were “Raidforums.com,” “Rf.ws,” and “Raid.lol.”
In its announcement,…
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) unsealed indictments against four Russian government officials on March 24, 2022, alleging that they hacked into networks that controlled energy systems in the U.S.
According to the DOJ, the attacks took place between 2012 and 2018, and included physical damage to infrastructure, as well as embedding malware for later…
People always ask me if law enforcement is having any luck in combatting cyber criminals. Let me be clear: it is a very tough job to take down cyber criminals located in other countries or sponsored by foreign nations. Our government is focusing on cyber criminals more than I have ever seen before, and the…
In an unusual and exciting twist to the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced this week that it was able to retrieve $2.3 million of the $4.4 million paid by Colonial Pipeline to DarkSide by seizing the wallet, and thus “preventing Darkside actors from using it.”
Way to go DOJ and…
It has been reported by Bloomberg Law that the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack was caused by a “single compromised password.” The Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack had consumers hoarding gasoline and disrupted distribution of gas along the east coast. One single compromised password.
Colonial Pipeline paid $4.4 million in ransom following the attack, although the Department…
