Last week, the Tex-Mex restaurant chain On the Border suffered a data breach that impacted its payment acceptance systems in 27 states. The restaurant says that some credit card information of customers who visited the chain between April and August 2019 may have been compromised. In a press release, On the Border representatives said, “Our
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Introducing the New York SHIELD Act
The New York “Stop Hacks and Improve Electronic Data Security Act” (SHIELD Act), N.Y. Gen Bus. Law§ 899-bb, requires businesses that collect private information on New York residents to implement reasonable cybersecurity safeguards to protect that information. While this is a new law in the State of New York, it is simply joining other states,…
Utah – The First State to Require a Warrant for Third-Party Data
We write about data breaches and privacy issues all the time. We are desensitized in some ways to the fact that our privacy may have been, or will be, compromised and, quite frankly, many people now distrust some of the very companies with which they shared their information. California led the way regarding privacy legislation…
Protecting the Privacy of Children Online – More Updates on COPPA
Last week, two Senators, Senator Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts and Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regarding apps designed for children and whether they are in compliance with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), See 15 U.S.C. 6501 and regulations at 16 C.F.R. Part 312 et. seq. The Senators stated that they are concerned that thousands of apps may “improperly track children and collect their personal information.” The Senators requested a response from the FTC by October 31. The letter also asked that the FTC “investigate whether these apps, and the advertising companies they work with, are in fact tracking children with persistent identifiers and collecting their personal information in violation of COPPA…”…
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The Importance of Protecting the Last Four Digits of Your Social Security Number
We all know that it is important to protect our Social Security number. But sometimes companies still try to use the last four digits of our Social Security numbers as identifiers or to verify identity in some way. The use of Social Security numbers began in 1936 long before computers, the internet, and identity theft…
Students 16 and Over: Check Out CyberStart!
Students 16 and over who live in Virginia, Michigan, Iowa, Hawaii, Nevada, Delaware and Rhode Island—you may be eligible to participate in a new cybersecurity skills program called CyberStart. You have to have access to the Internet and a computer to participate.
CyberStart is “a forward-thinking skills program designed to supply specialist cyber security education…
The Goal of Gender Equality in Cybersecurity
I have the privilege of teaching the Privacy Law class at Roger Williams University School of Law (RWU). It is a required course for the school’s Joint Masters in Cybersecurity/Juris Doctor program, which is, to my knowledge, the only joint program offered by a university and law school in the U.S.
A recent statistic states…
Illinois data breach law amended and includes new twists
Governor Bruce Rauner signed several new provisions into law amending Illinois’ Personal Information Privacy Act, including health insurance and medical information into the definition of personal information that triggers notification in the event of a breach.
Health insurance information under the law includes an individual’s health insurance policy number or subscriber identification number as well…
ATM Skimmer pleads guilty in Rhode Island federal court
Skimming continues to be a problem for ATM machines and law enforcement continues to try to combat the problem. Skimming devices are attached to credit and debit card and ATM machines in order to intercept debit and credit card information and PIN numbers as they are being entered by an individual. The skimmers then re-encode…
Privacy Tip #27 – Complying with the new Rhode Island data security law
As we mentioned before, Rhode Island amended its Identity Theft Protection Act on June 30, 2015, which will become effective on June 26, 2016. Now is the time to think about and put processes in place for compliance with the law by that date. This includes implementing data security measures for the personal information…