One bright spot in recent events has been to see our kids stay focused as students and to see teachers continue their great work while bunkered down from their homes. Nevertheless, it may be worthwhile to pause to think about the technology that makes this all possible. One lawsuit recently filed in California sheds light on the privacy issues created when students, schools and teachers become increasingly reliant on “e-learning” and the technology that supports it.
On April 2, 2020, a class-action lawsuit was filed in the District Court for the Northern District of California entitled H.K. and J.C., through …
Continue Reading The ABC’s Of Privacy Law: New Lawsuit Provides Glimpse Of Privacy Issues For “E-Learning” In Schools Under COPPA, BIPA And SOPPA

Understandably, there has been a lot of information concerning the novel coronavirus and its impact on insurance, business and, of course, people.  However, there has not been much discussion on what happens if there is a cyber event over the next couple of weeks as the world deals with the COVID-19 pandemic.  A cyber security breach during the novel coronavirus pandemic could sever the one thread connecting remote employees to their place of work.
While it is still early, there should be little dispute that the current pandemic will have a profound impact on the workplace, which, in turn, will have…
Continue Reading Where Do We Begin? Two Immediate Threats to Cyber Security During the Coronavirus Pandemic

Despite the sophistication in fraudulent schemes, insurers are keeping up with hackers and recognizing the varied approach to the scamming word…and courts are also taking notice.
In Mississippi Silicon Holdings, LLC v. AXIS Ins. Co., the United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi found no coverage for an insured who was duped into transferring $1,025,881.13 to a Bulgarian-American Credit Bank believing it was the account of one of its suppliers. 2020 WL 869974 (N.D. Miss. Feb. 21, 2020). The case involved Mississippi Silicon Holdings, LLC (“MSH”), a manufacturing company that makes silicon metal in Burnsville, Mississippi. Around October…
Continue Reading Mississippi Court Evaluates Phishing Email Under Cybersecurity And Breach Response Coverage

While there has been a huge increase in class action cases based on alleged violations of the Illinois Biometric Information Act (“BIPA”), it has not gone unnoticed that the vast majority of the recent cases are limited to allegations brought by employees against their employers rather than by customers. That is, the case law is developing into two distinct branches: BIPA customer cases and BIPA employment cases.
The rapid development of BIPA employment cases is surprising to the extent the Illinois Supreme Court’s decision in Rosenbach v. Six Flags, 2019 IL 123186 (Jan 25, 2019) involved a customer of the Six…
Continue Reading The Next Wave Of Biometric Cases: BIPA Customer Lawsuits

Now that the January 1, 2020 compliance deadline for the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”) has passed and the dust has settled, it may be worth taking a look at how a few other changes in California may impact privacy law. More specifically, in the chaos caused by CCPA compliance, several privacy experts have overlooked California’s steps to regulate the Internet of Things (“IoT”).
THE INTERNET OF THINGS GETS MORE DANGEROUS
While we were all focused on the impeding CCPA deadline, we can be forgiven for missing a recent incident where a Ring security camera was hacked to harass a child…
Continue Reading The Internet Of Things Gets More Dangerous And More Regulated In 2020

The Illinois Biometric Information Protection Act (“BIPA”) has had a significant impact on how employers use timekeeping systems to track employees’ hours at work. Timekeeping systems that allow employees to “clock in” and “clock out” using their thumbprints and fingerprints have become more commonplace. Unfortunately, the courts have not kept up with the technology and employers have found little guidance on how to use this new equipment within the confines of BIPA. As a result of this uncertainty in the law, there is a backlog of cases in Illinois courts involving employers’ use of biometric data.
One recent case addresses…
Continue Reading District Court Punts On Threshold Questions In BIPA Workplace Claims

It was a quaint, innocent time before social engineering scams, ransomware or any of the other threats had evolved to hassle both large and small data collectors. In 2014 and 2015, large-scale data breaches at Home Depot, Best Buy and Target roamed the Earth. While all that has changed drastically in the last five years, we still have a few fossils providing insight on a time when huge data breaches caused huge damages to companies with huge insurance policy limits.
Five years, ago, on September 19, 2014, we posted about Target Corporation’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a number …
Continue Reading Courts Are Still Picking Over The Bones From The 2013 Target Data Breach

Despite having the potential to impact many data collectors, Illinois’ Biometric Information Protection Act (“BIPA”) has received surprisingly little analysis from state or federal courts. A decision issued on October 17, 2019, by the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois may limit the number of BIPA cases reaching the federal courts and, in turn, further, limit the development of law addressing BIPA claims.
In Colon v. Dynacast, LLC, 19-cv-4561 (N.D. Ill. Oct. 17, 2019), the Plaintiff, Colon, filed a motion to remand the matter from the Federal Court back to the Circuit Court of Cook County,…
Continue Reading Federal Court Shreds Illinois’ Biometric Statute Before Remanding Case Back To State Court