On August 30, 2021, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sanctioned eight firms in three actions for cybersecurity failures in their policies and procedures that exposed the personal information of thousands of customers at each firm. These firms included: Cetera Advisor Networks LLC, Cetera Investment Services LLC, Cetera Financial Specialists LLC, Cetera Advisors LLC,
On May 12, 2021, President Biden issued an executive order to strengthen U.S. cybersecurity defenses. The order comes in the wake of the ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline and numerous other cybersecurity attacks against the U.S. government and private companies over the past few years. The order proposes a wide array of changes to bolster
On July 21, 2020, the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) filed charges against First American Title Insurance Company (First American) for breach of state cybersecurity regulations. Specifically, NYDFS alleges that First American exposed tens of millions of documents containing consumers’ sensitive personal information, including bank account numbers and statements, mortgage and tax
As more and more businesses send their employees home to self-quarantine and work remotely as part of their COVID-19 mitigation measures, it is important to remember that working remotely carries with it unique data privacy and security concerns of which everyone should be aware. The following are a few tips for employers and employees to
*written with assistance from co-author and W&L law student, Isabella Gray.
On May 28, 2019, the Cyberspace Administration of China (“Cybersecurity Administration”) released a set of draft Measures for Data Security Management (the “Draft Measures”). The Draft Measures provide articles governing how network operators, defined as someone who owns and administrates a network or a
On December 5, 2017, NIST published a revised version of the NIST Cybersecurity Framework (i.e., Draft 2 of Version 1.1) (“Framework”). According to NIST, Version 1.1 of the Framework refines, clarifies, and enhances Version 1.0 of the Framework issued in February 2014, and the recently published Draft 2 of Version 1.1 is informed by over
On August 7 2017, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), through its Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE), published a Risk Alert summarizing observations on how broker dealers, investment advisers, and investment companies have addressed cybersecurity issues. The OCIE examined 75 financial firms registered with the SEC. The examinations focused on the firms’
On August 1, 2017, the Senate introduced the “Internet of Things (IoT) Cybersecurity Improvement Act of 2017”, which aims to bolster the security of government-acquired IoT devices. Sponsored by Sens. Mark Warner (D-VA), Cory Gardner (R-CO), Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Steve Daines (R-MT), the bill would require connected devices purchased by the government agencies to
Today, on June 1, 2017, China’s new cybersecurity law, entitled the “Network Security Law”, goes into effect. The law was passed in November 2016. It now becomes legally mandatory for “network operators” and “providers of network products and services” to: (a) follow certain personal information protection obligations, including notice and consent requirements; (b) for network
Last month, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) released its annual Regulatory and Examination Priorities Letter (the “2017 Priorities Letter”) which highlights the areas that FINRA plans to focus on in its 2017 examination of registered broker-dealers.
It should come as no surprise that cybersecurity is listed as one of the operational threats that FINRA
