10 Ways a Business Associate Can Trigger HIPAA Enforcement

10 Ways a Business Associate Can Trigger HIPAA Enforcement

The Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) may have signaled its interest in pursuing more enforcement actions against business associates. On May 24, 2019, the HHS Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”), released a fact sheet on the direct liability of business associates under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability ... Read More
Notable GDPR Enforcement Actions in the First Year and Key Takeaways

Notable GDPR Enforcement Actions in the First Year and Key Takeaways

In the year since the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) went into effect on May 25, 2018, companies worldwide have been adapting to the new privacy rules—and EU regulators have also been busy adjusting to the new regime, handling an influx of data subject complaints, issuing guidelines and opinions, conducting ... Read More
New Reporting Requirements Under Arkansas’ Data Breach Law

New Reporting Requirements Under Arkansas’ Data Breach Law

Arkansas has updated its breach notification law to expand the definition of “personal information” and to require notifying the Arkansas Attorney General when a breach involves more than 1,000 individuals’ personal information. On April 15, 2019, Governor Asa Hutchinson signed HB 1943, and the amendments go into effect on July ... Read More
Washington Strengthens Breach Notification Law

Washington Strengthens Breach Notification Law

On May 7, 2019, Governor Jay Inslee signed a bill (HB 1071) that strengthens the state’s existing data breach notification law by expanding the definition of “personal information” and reducing the time an entity has to disclose a breach to consumers and the Attorney General from 45 to 30 days ... Read More
HHS Announces Reduced Annual Limits on Civil Money Penalties for Most HIPAA Violations

HHS Announces Reduced Annual Limits on Civil Money Penalties for Most HIPAA Violations

The Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) recently issued a Notification of Enforcement Discretion Regarding HIPAA Civil Money Penalties (“CMPs”) in which it lowered the maximum annual fines that can be assessed against covered entities and business associates under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”) for lower-level ... Read More
CCPA Amendments Advance Out of Committees

CCPA Amendments Advance Out of Committees

While many companies are struggling to make sense of the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”) (see our prior posts here and here) and roll out their CCPA compliance programs, the California Assembly Privacy and Consumer Protection Committee (“Privacy Committee”) and the Senate Judiciary Committee have advanced a number of bills ... Read More
New EU Cookie Consent Recommendation from Advocate General

New EU Cookie Consent Recommendation from Advocate General

On March 21, 2019, Advocate General Maciej Szpunar (“Advocate General” or “AG”) of the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) issued an opinion in which he recommended that the Court rule that pre-checked boxes do not constitute consent and that consent is required to use cookies for certain ... Read More
2018 State Privacy & Security Laws – A Year in Review

2018 State Privacy & Security Laws – A Year in Review

Overview of 2018 2018 was a watershed year for state privacy and security laws, with several states passing legislation in these areas. The most significant development was the enactment of the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”), the most expansive general privacy law in the United States to date. However, the ... Read More
Massachusetts expands breach notice law to require 18 months credit monitoring

Massachusetts expands breach notice law to require 18 months credit monitoring

Massachusetts has updated its breach notification law to require credit monitoring services and more prescriptive breach notices to regulators, as well as to strengthen rules for consumer reporting agencies. Governor Charlie Baker signed the legislation (H. 4806) on January 10, 2019, and the amendments go into effect on April 11, ... Read More