Cybersecurity & Data Privacy

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468453132On April 3, 2016, the public learned that millions of client documents from the Panamanian law firm and corporate services provider Mossack Fonseca & Co. (MF) had made their way to an international organization, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), and that the information would be used to publish potentially damaging stories. In addition, authorities across the globe, from Japan to Switzerland to the United States, are reviewing the documents and investigating potential tax implications, regulatory violations and criminal activity.
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Continue Reading What Attorneys Can Learn from History’s Largest Data Breach

WebA recent Washington Post article examined the issue of patient privacy complaints after medical providers responded to negative Yelp® reviews about medical care. The issue of how a professional can (or should) respond to negative online reviews is not limited to physicians or medical facilities. While attorneys are not subject to HIPAA, they are all well aware that attorney-client communications are privileged and confidential and only the client can waive that privilege.
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Continue Reading Negative Online Reviews: The Best Defense

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Consider this scenario: A young couple entrusts you, an experienced real estate attorney, to assist them in the purchase of their first home. Days before closing, your unsecured email account gets hacked and your client receives an email, which to all appearances is from you, telling them to wire funds to a third-party account instead of bringing the cash to closing. You only find out about “your” email to your client after the transfer has been made and your clients’ savings, accumulated over many years, is gone. What exactly do you think you can say to your clients to make it better?
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Continue Reading The Proof Is in the Password!

data-security-concept478427617TSBusinesses have revolutionized the way they reach customers. Through computers, smart phones, iPads and a host of other technologies, we can now make purchasing decisions from the comfort of our homes. All we need to do is enter our personal information and our credit card data, and one click later that product magically appears at our doorstep, ready to be used.

But the convenience brought to us by the technological revolution comes with its vices. Our personal information is handed over to businesses, sometimes without our knowledge, and those businesses can then track our online activities, ranging from websites we frequent, to what products we purchase, to what we “mouse-over,” and a host of other things. They then store that information to one day use to their advantage in marketing efforts.…

Continue Reading Surf’s Up: The Wave of High-profile Privacy Class Actions

IRS Refund_479969589Nearly every day there’s another news story about another company suffering a data breach, either as a result of a lost or stolen device or because the company was hacked. Talk to any number of knowledgeable attorneys skilled in handling breaches, and each will guide you through a similar process for providing notice, obtaining credit monitoring or identity restoration, and complying with regulatory and other legal obligations. Yet no matter the recommendations, the antiquated processes in place at the IRS make it practically impossible for companies to protect someone from a fraudulently filed tax return.
Continue Reading The IRS will not flag, identify or otherwise note a SSN that may be subject to identity theft and subsequent tax fraud. Go figure.