On June 30, 2015, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announced that the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) has issued an optional Cybersecurity Assessment Tool (Assessment) for banking institutions (“institution”) to use to evaluate risks and cybersecurity maturity (i.e., level of preparedness). OCC also announced that it would “gradually incorporate the […]
Enforcement
FTC Releases New Data Security Guidance for Businesses, Announces Conference Series
The Federal Trade Commission has released new guidance, called “Start with Security,” intended to assist businesses to improve their data security practices based on lessons learned from its 53 data security cases to date. Issued on June 30, 2015, the guidance “distill[s] the facts of those cases down to their essence” in ten “lessons to […]
Visa & MasterCard: Issuers May Release Identity of Breached Merchants
In two letters sent to Diana Dykstra, the President and CEO of the California and Nevada Credit Union Leagues, both MasterCard and Visa have confirmed that, under their network rules, card issuers are permitted to disclose the identities of merchants involved in data breaches in certain circumstances. In MasterCard’s letter dated June 3, 2015, Eileen […]
Alston & Bird partners Teri McMahon and Dominique Shelton discuss updates to M&A and privacy & data security practice areas at ACC Israel Annual Event
On June 16, 2015, Alston & Bird partners Teri McMahon and Dominique Shelton made presentations on current issues of the M&A and privacy and data security practice areas at the ACC Israel Annual Event. The event, attended by over 200 attorneys from Israel and around the world, focused on trending global mergers & acquisitions issues. Teri McMahon discussed trends in […]
FTC Looks “More Favorably” Upon Companies That Report Data Breaches to Law Enforcement
The Federal Trade Commission recently announced that it views companies that report data breaches to appropriate law enforcers “more favorably” than those companies that are less cooperative. Mark Eichorn, Assistant Director in the Bureau of Consumer Protection’s Division of Privacy and Identity Protection, included the announcement in a May 20, 2015 blog post, describing a […]