Tag: Compliance
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The Future of Cyber Operations and the Government
In the forthcoming National Defense Authorization Act the House Armed Services Committee — specifically the Subcommittee on Intelligence and Emerging Threat Capabilities — seeks to amend the annual legislation to ensure that Congress is informed when the executive branch executes offensive or defensive cyber operations.
The bill defines offensive or defensive cyber operations as a “sensitive military operation.” The goal of this shared information is additional oversight, especially given the newness of cyber tactics.
As reported by journalist Derek B. Johnson of FWC.com, two covert cyber operations have taken place since POTUS announced the new policy. The first was in October 2018, a cyber operation with a goal of informing Russian operatives not to meddle with the midterm election. The second took place the following November in which the U.S. Cyber Command blocked access to Russian Internet Research Agency post election.
While these two operations have been called “mild” in some critiques, former White House Director of Cyber Infrastructure Protection under President George W. Bush, Jason Healey, believes this highly specialized tactic is ideal since it presents the least potential for collateral damage. While Healey warns against grand and overt attacks, he states that sometimes “conflict is straightforward and you just have to stop adversaries from punching you in the mouth.”
Read the complete post by Derek B. Johnson on FCW.com here.
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The New York Privacy Act Would Allow Direct Action
The New York Privacy Act, introduced last month by state Sen. Kevin Thomas, advocates for consumer agency over their personal data and would give New Yorkers the right to sue companies directly for privacy violations. Thomas wants companies to put customer data protection ahead of their budgetary and business goals.
The bill summary reads: “Enacts the NY privacy act to require companies to disclose their methods of de-identifying personal information, to place special safeguards around data sharing and to allow consumers to obtain the names of all entities with whom their information is shared; creates a special account to fund a new office of privacy and data protection.”
“Fiduciaries, like an attorney or a doctor, hold onto your information. They don’t share it, unless there is a need for the purpose for which they collected it,” Thomas said. “That’s not what’s going on here with these data companies and these data brokers. They’re sharing it, and we’re getting targeted.”
Pushback from the tech industry has been swift. John Olsen, Director of the Internet Association, said, “The NY Privacy Act, in its current form, is unworkable for businesses that want to comply and fails to provide New York residents meaningful control over how their data is collected, used, and protected.” Facebook also chimed in saying they would have to shut down Facebook access to New York users if the bill becomes law.
Read the NY Senate Bill S5642.
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CannaLawBlog — Legalizing Cannabis Cash
On May 20, 2019 banking associations from all 50 states and 1 territory sent a letter to Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee urging them to conduct hearings on the merits of providing cannabis-related business access to banking services.CannaLawBlog highlighted the primary concerns of the letter in a recent post:
“Again, the primary concern expressed was that current law forces state-legal businesses to operate on a cash basis, which poses a safety risk, complicates enforcement efforts, and could damage local economies.”
The banking associations wanted to emphasize their neutrality on the legality of cannabis, rather they wanted to show strength as a national community and validate, support, and respect those communities that have voted for legalized recreational marijuana.
Read the complete post by
HarrisBricken attorney Jihee Ahn on The CannaLawBlog. -
Top Five Things to Know if You’re Building Your Cannabis Empire Through M&A — CannaLawBlog
Cannabis is associated with calm. Joining the industry is anything but.
Hilary Bricken already has nearly a decade of experience in the field of cannabis law. She founded the Canna Law Blog in 2010, which now has several contributors from the Harris Bricken firm and is easily one of the best out there. Her latest post offers insights on companies who wish to build their cannabis business through mergers and acquisitions. In her May 6 post, titled “Top Five Things to Know if You’re Building Your Cannabis Empire Through M&A,” she writes:
“It’s no secret that multiple state-by-state operators are building their cannabis empires through aggressive mergers and acquisitions. Last year, our cannabis business attorneys closed more than $100 million in cannabis company acquisitions, and that shows no signs of stopping in 2019. Cannabis M&A is not your run-of-the-mill business dealing though, and working from boilerplate, rote M&A documents is hugely dangerous. In addition, diligence is oftentimes like a regulatory spiderweb laden with liabilities that other businesses do not face. In addition, the barriers to entry in the cannabis industry are increasingly high, tedious, and protectionist, which can really torture business deals.”
Bricken writes that “if you find yourself turning into a larger multi-state operator though acquiring cannabis businesses,” there are at least five things you should know. Read on for what she has to say.
Read the complete post on CannaLawBlog.com here.
Cannabis photo by Matthew Brodeur on UnSplash.com
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Product Liability in the Internet of Things — Schiff Hardin Product Liability & Mass Torts Blog
[one-half-first]
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash [/one-half-first] [one-half]”Combining a physical object and an intangible technology also creates a novel issue when it comes to strict product liability principles, which typically hold that a product manufacturer may be strictly liable for a product’s defect. The first task in a strict product liability case is to identify the product. In the context of a device that has no internet connectivity, the answer is straightforward. If a ladder is defective and causes an injury, the ladder’s manufacturer may be held strictly liable because a ladder is the product. But when it comes to IoT devices, the line may be blurred. Almost always, the software part of the IoT device is ‘manufactured’ by a separate entity from the entity that manufactures the physical object. If the IoT device proves to be defective, the question becomes which entity may be held strictly liable.”
Read the complete post by Schiff Hardin’s Gregory Dickinson & Jeffrey D. Skinner here. [/one-half]
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One Stock for the Coming Marijuana Boom, Says The Motley Fool
“This legal pot stock could be like buying Amazon for $3.19.”
“Cannabis legalization is sweeping over North America – 10 states plus Washington, D.C., have all legalized recreational marijuana over the last few years, and full legalization arrived in Canada in October 2018. Legal marijuana is worth an estimated $50 billion for the U.S. today. And since experts have projected the U.S. industry to skyrocket to $80 billion by 2030, it’s time for investors to start paying attention. Because whether or not you’re planning on ingesting any THC, you can’t deny the monumental investing opportunity that a potentially $80 billion industry represents.” –Grace Phillips, in an article for The Motley Fool
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Million-Dollar Settlement in Employee Background Check Case, Top Class Actions Reports
“Job applicants have secured a $1.2 million settlement ending allegations that Maxim Healthcare did not properly inform potential employees that they would have a consumer report pulled as part of the application process. Class Members include those who applied and got a job with the healthcare services company between May 5, 2009 and Aug. 27, 2012, who were also subject to a consumer report check by Maxim. The Maxim Healthcare class action lawsuit claimed that Maxim violated federal consumer privacy protections when procuring employee background checks.”
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Dan Mogin: Antitrust, Pro-Privacy Moves Led Outside U.S.
In a move that could redefine how 2.6 billion people use Facebook Messenger and Facebook’s acquired WhatsApp and Instagram apps, The New York Times reported on Jan. 25 that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg plans to integrate the platforms. The announcement turned up the volume on antitrust and privacy warnings directed at the social media giant.
“Facebook can be legitimately criticized for merging these apps after contrary assurances and perhaps for trying to dominate messaging,” MoginRubin Partner Dan Mogin said, “but perhaps more importantly, this is another example of the evolving convergence between antitrust and privacy that appears to be being driven by forces outside the US enforcement agencies. It’s a challenging issue for antitrust and may eventually lead to a sea change.”See the complete post on the MoginRubin Blog.
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Financial Institutions Struggle to Keep Up with ‘Changing Business Needs’ Such as Social Mobile Apps, and Getting Risk Data Quickly, Deloitte Report Suggests
Deloitte’s report is based on a survey of 94 financial institutions around the world that operate in a range of financial sectors and with aggregate assets of $29.1 trillion.
Deloitte’s Edward Hida — financial risk community of practice global leader and a partner in Deloitte Risk and Financial Advisory — posted his executive summary the latest Global Risk Management Survey which is the organization’s eleventh. The report is a detailed one and Deloitte draws quite a few conclusions around the continued focus on cyber security, engagement of boards of directors, increase attention to non-financial risks, the potential of digital risk management, enterprise risk management, the proliferation of Chief Risk Officers, an increased reliance on stress testing and more.
A couple figures jumped out at me which show at least two challenges to financial institutions.
Hear this Deloitte professional at ICRMC in Toronto April 15-16!
Respondents are finding “extremely challenging” the need to keep up with changing business operational needs, such as deployment of social mobile applications, data analytics and cloud-based risks. Also in the “extremely challenging” category, not surprisingly, are threats from “sophisticated actors,” like foreign governments and crackerjack hacktivists.
Other issues categorized as “extremely high priority “revolve around getting quality risk data quickly. Given the average length of time other studies show that a hacker can poke around in your network before you realize it — and how much damage they can do when they have all that time — it’s easy to see why this is a major concern for financial institutions.
You can read the rest of his executive summary here. You can also download the full report as well as all of Deloitte’s past editions.
Two of Edward Hida’s Deloitte colleagues — Beth Dewitt and Adel Melek — are speaking at the International Cyber Risk Management Conference April 15-16, 2019, in Toronto. They are addressing the global regulatory landscape.
Here is the session description:
“Large-scale data breaches are increasingly in the public eye; consumer trust in brands is faltering, creating a surge in data and privacy protection discussions from the Boardroom to the front lines. While the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has occupied much of the spotlight since coming into effect in May, globally there has been a barrage of privacy laws like the California Consumer Privacy Act that was passed in June and the breach-reporting amendments to PIPEDA came into force on November 1st. What do these and the plethora of other privacy regulations mean for your organization when it comes to protecting an individual’s personal data?”
