February 9, 2015
Drones are an immediate pressing problem for regulators. That, of course does not mean it is being the subject to rigorous and effective response.
The technology Read the rest of this entry »
February 8, 2015
On 5 December 2014 I posted on the settlement of charges by hte in a complaint against PaymentsMD and its former CEO, Michael Hughes. On 6 February 2015 the Federal Trade Commission (The “FTC”) approved final orders in the PaymentsMD Privacy case. The FTC is turning into as good a regulator on privacy related issues as the legislation permits. Far more effective than Australian and New Zealand regulators. In Australia Read the rest of this entry »
Anthem, one of the United States largest health insurers has been subject to a sophisticated cyber attack. Records of in excess of 80 million have been compromised. This makes it a huge data breach. It is reported in Millions of Anthem Customers Targeted in Cyberattack and Massive Anthem health insurance hack exposes millions of customers’ details which Read the rest of this entry »
February 6, 2015
Data breaches can attract litigation, both in the form of class actions but also individual claims arising out the unauthorised disclosure of health records. It can compound heavy reputational loss. The article LinkedIn’s Data Breach Settlement Moves Forward reports on the resolution of a lawsuit arising out of the 2012 breach of Linked In’s network. The tentative agreement of Read the rest of this entry »
There have been no shortage of lessons to be learnt from the the Sony Hack. Poor cyber security and systems layed the foundations for the hack attack. It was less to do with evil geniuses breaching an impenetriable defence and more to do with inadequate and compromised privacy infrastructure. There is more to be learnt from the hack, starting with who was responsible. The suspected origin of the attack has varied from, initially, North Korea to a disgruntled insider to, most recently, Russian as reported in Report Claims Russians Hacked Sony.
The other aspect of the Sony Hack has been the ever widening consequences of the breach. It acted as a Read the rest of this entry »
Today the Pew Research Centre published a very interesting report, titled Investigative Journalists and Digital Security: Perceptions of Vulnerability and Changes in Behavior (found here). The findings are based on a survey of 671 investigative journalists and their experience with digital security.
Clearly there is a continuing concern about Read the rest of this entry »
February 3, 2015
In Everyday ways your personal privacy is under threat Zdnet highlights the privacy invasive potential associated with Read the rest of this entry »
February 1, 2015
A small drone landed on the grounds of the US White House last week. It caused a minor splash in the media with all sorts of concerns, mostly overhyped, about security raised. The coverage did Read the rest of this entry »
January 30, 2015
The Australian’s article March of the mini-drones is not a revolutionary piece on this ever developing technology. The use and uses of drones are growing at a significant rate and far outpacing the regulations and the response times of legislatures to develop coherent and effective regulation. But this piece also points to the development of consumer drones which are pre programed and can be used autonomously to follow its owner or follow a pre set flight path. That often involves the drone mounting a camera and taking videos or photos. As battery life increases along with improved carrying capacity coupled with mounting more sophisticated video and audio devices the privacy invasive capacity grows. It has the potential to require a review of the law of trespass and, more particularly, nuisance to meet the less savory uses of this technology.
Meanwhile there is a Read the rest of this entry »
January 28, 2015
The Privacy Commissioner has issued Guide to securing personal information. It has been long awaited. While it will be an important resource for privacy law practitioners as it will guide them in developing processes, spending on the security and setting priorities it is drawn in the broad and sets the regulatory bar quite low when compared to what it could be. It suffers Read the rest of this entry »