How To Respond To Data Breaches

• Posted by Geoffrey G. Gussis on July 24th, 2006


• Filed in IT/Software/Internet

Data security breaches are on the rise - and states have responded by passing laws requiring notification of potentially impacted victims.  Two attorneys at Hunton & Williams have provided their thoughts on how a company should respond to a data security breach.  Their introduction illuminates the scope of the problem:

"During the past year, news headlines announced a steady stream of information security breaches. During this time, roughly 170 breach incidents have been subject to public scrutiny; countless other incidents have gone unreported. It is estimated that more than 81 million individuals have been impacted by the publicized security breaches alone, including 26.5 million individuals whose personal information was contained on a laptop computer lost by an employee of the Department of Veterans Affairs in late May. While security breach incidents certainly occurred prior to 2005, a little-known California law passed in 2002 brought about the sudden surge in news coverage of such incidents.

This law, known as the California Computer Security Breach Notification Act (SB 1386), requires businesses to notify California residents whose personal information has been the subject of a security breach. Not to be outdone, 29 other states have jumped on the California bandwagon and passed breach notification laws of their own after witnessing the broad impact of the California law."

Link: Legal Technology - Sounding the Alert on Data Breaches.