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Security, Privacy and the Law

Security and privacy issues encountered by businesses often require immediate and discreet solutions. We cover topics that arise from guiding our clients through the process of complying with the ever-growing number of state, federal and international laws governing information security, identity theft, surveillance and other privacy issues.

Security, Privacy and the Law
HIPAA Enforcement: A Look Ahead at 2026 Informed by 2025's Inflection Points
Blog February 10, 2026
The healthcare ecosystem has closed the book on a volatile 2025, and HIPAA enforcement has moved into 2026 with sharper edges, wider apertures, and higher stakes…
Cybersecurity 2022 – The Year in Preview: Continued Threats to Nation's Energy Supply as Regulators Race to Keep Up
Blog February 02, 2022
Continued Threats of Ransomware Attacks As we reported in our 2021 Year in Preview series, we began 2021 anticipating that ransomware would be a serious threat to critical energy infrastructure.  These concerns were realized in May 2021 when the Colonial Pipeline Company's (“Colonial”) entire 5,500-mile pipeline system carrying liquid fuels was shut down due to a ransomware attack by DarkSide, a hacking group that allegedly has loose ties to the Russian government…
Cybersecurity 2022 – The Year in Preview: Privacy Regulations at the FTC
Blog February 02, 2022
As we think about what 2022 may hold with regard to privacy and data security regulation by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), we should first look back at some of the developments from last year that set the stage for this year. Just like 2021, it appears that the regulatory culture at the FTC this year will be heavily entangled with the political environment. Recent events suggest that while privacy and data security related reforms previously enjoyed bipartisan support…
Cybersecurity 2021 - The Year in Preview: The FTCs Enforcement Priorities
Blog December 31, 2020
Editors' Note:  This is the fourth in our fifth-annual end-of-year series examining important trends in data privacy and cybersecurity in the coming year.  Read our previous posts on Energy, Cannabis, and the GDPR. As the Trump Administration ends, it is time to look forward to what may be on the horizon with regards to law enforcement at the FTC under the Biden Administration…
Cybersecurity 2021 - The Year in Preview: The GDPRs New Transfer Landmines
Blog December 30, 2020
Editors' Note:  This is the third in our fifth-annual end-of-year series examining important trends in data privacy and cybersecurity in the coming year.  Read our previous posts on Energy and Cannabis. A year ago, transferring data from Europe to the United States was inconvenient but manageable. Thousands of companies participated in the Privacy Shield, an agreement between the United States Department of Commerce and the European Commission where data importers certified that protected……
Cybersecurity 2021 - The Year in Preview: Emerging Issues in Cannabis and Privacy
Blog December 30, 2020
Editors' Note:  This is the second in our fifth-annual end-of-year series examining important trends in data privacy and cybersecurity in the coming year.  Read our previous post on Energy. Though the final results of the 2020 presidential race took a few days to become clear, it was obvious by the morning of November 4 that cannabis legalization had run the table: from deep red Montana…
Cybersecurity 2021 - The Year in Preview: Ransomware, the Latest Threat to the Nation's Energy Supply
Blog December 16, 2020
Editors' Note:  This is the first in our fifth-annual end-of-year series examining important trends in data privacy and cybersecurity in the coming year.   The Growing Threat of Ransomware According to media reports, ransomware attacks against the manufacturing industry have more than tripled compared with last year. This dramatic rise in cyberattacks poses serious concerns about the vulnerability of critical energy infrastructure serving the nation's electric grid…
Cybersecurity 2020 – The Year in Preview: New Guidance Continues to Clarify GDPR's Scope
Blog January 14, 2020
Editors' Note:  This is the sixth in our fourth-annual end-of-year series examining important trends in data privacy and cybersecurity in the coming year.  Our previous entry discussed the CCPA, energy, Brexit, health care regulation, and state enforcement trends. The European Union's General Data Protection Regulation is possibly the world's most burdensome data protection scheme…
Cybersecurity 2020 — The Year in Preview: Top 3 State AG Trends to Watch in 2020
Blog January 13, 2020
Editors' Note:  This is the fifth in our fourth-annual end-of-year series examining important trends in data privacy and cybersecurity in the coming year.  Our previous entry discussed the CCPA, energy, Brexit, and health privacy.  Next up:  trends in GDPR enforcement. Out of all governmental agencies, state attorneys general are likely to have the greatest impact on privacy enforcement in 2020 for the average business…
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ABOUT

The Foley Hoag Security, Privacy and the Law Blog focuses on the security and privacy issues encountered by businesses that often require immediate and discreet solutions. Here we cover topics that arise from guiding our clients through the process of complying with the ever-growing number of state, federal and international laws governing information security, identity theft, surveillance and other privacy issues.

Our lawyers assist clients with questions on how to legally and ethically investigate abusive e-mail, take down infringing Web sites, maintain surveillance of company facilities and information systems, and remediate breaches of security. We work with clients to ensure the legality and success of existing security policies and protocols and help them develop new programs when necessary. Our lawyers have managed unexpected crises ranging from surprise inspections by government investigators to obtaining emergency court orders needed to secure stolen company computers from rogue insiders.

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