On May 23, 2017, it was announced that Target Corporation had settled the investigation initiated by the Attorneys General[1] of 47 states and the District of Columbia resulting from its 2013 data security incident. Besides the $18.5 million being paid (the largest State AG data breach settlement amount to date), it is the promised remedial measures that are of most interest to those following data breach enforcement actions.
Australian Mandatory Data Breach Regime Moves Closer to Reality
As mentioned in our previous legal update, the Australian Attorney-General’s Department released and sought comments on an exposure draft of a mandatory data breach notification bill, the Privacy Amendment (Notification of Serious Data Breaches) Bill 2015 (Cth) (Exposure Bill). The time for submissions has now closed, and the Attorney-General’s Department has published a number of the non-confidential submissions in relation to the Exposure Bill on its website.
New data security law in Connecticut imposes new requirements on businesses, regulated entities, and state contractors
On June 11, 2015, Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy signed Senate Bill 949 (“S.B. 949”) into law. This new law imposes a various new requirements relating to data breach response and notification, including imposing a hard 90-day deadline for data breach reporting and requiring that entities regulated by the Connecticut Insurance Department to implement and maintain a “comprehensive information security program” to protect personal information. The various sections of S.B. 949 take effect in stages, with some having taken effect on July 1, 2015, and others becoming effective as late as October 1, 2017.