Cybersecurity and data privacy continue to be among the most significant legal risks that businesses face today.

Last year brought a series of high-profile cyberattacks on major companies and U.S. infrastructure targets, continuing the trend seen in recent years. Regulators also brought a number of cybersecurity enforcement actions and announced new rules, guidance, and initiatives on ransomware and other cyber-related issues. In addition, after many years of debate, Congress made some progress in crafting legislation that would require certain companies to report significant cyberattacks and ransomware payments to the U.S. federal government. Companies should expect the demands of cybersecurity risk management and oversight to intensify as we enter 2022.
Continue Reading 2021 Cybersecurity and Privacy Developments in the United States

On January 19, 2022, District Judge Jesse M. Furman of the Southern District of New York dismissed a putative class action filed against men’s clothing store Bonobos, Inc., following an August 2020 data breach.  Judge Furman determined that a Bonobos customer whose personal information was stolen in the breach failed to demonstrate a sufficiently substantial risk of harm to establish standing to sue.

The decision in Cooper v. Bonobos reflects the increased uncertainty regarding the viability of suits for damages based solely on future risk of identity theft or fraud, in light of the Supreme Court’s recent decision in TransUnion LLC v. Ramirez.
Continue Reading Data Breach Class Action Against Bonobos Dismissed For Lack of Standing

For those following data privacy and consumer data protection trends, it should come as no surprise that enacting comprehensive legislation to regulate companies’ use of personal data has continued to be a focal point both internationally and in the U.S., at the federal, state and local levels. 
Continue Reading Navigating the Complex Regulation of Privacy and Data Protection

A 2021 survey of chief legal officers demonstrated that cybersecurity has overtaken compliance as the most significant legal risk that businesses face today. This should not come as a surprise as 2021 brought a series of high-profile cyberattacks on major companies and U.S. infrastructure targets.
Continue Reading Cybersecurity: Data Breaches, Ransomware Attacks and Increased Regulatory Focus

We are delighted that Anthony M. Shults has rejoined Cleary Gottlieb as a senior attorney from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), where he served as acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General and Senior Counsel in the Office of Legal Policy and as Attorney-Advisor in the National Security Division. He is based in our New York office and will focus on cybersecurity, data privacy, and emerging technologies, as well as securities, appellate, and complex commercial litigation.
Continue Reading Cleary Gottlieb Welcomes Back Anthony M. Shults, Former Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General and Senior Counsel at the Department of Justice

On November 18, 2021, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board) announced a final rule requiring banking organizations to notify their primary regulator of certain significant computer-security incidents as soon as possible and no later than 36 hours after they occur.[1]  The rule separately requires bank service providers to notify their bank customers if they experience a cyber incident that causes, or is reasonably likely to cause, a material disruption of services that lasts for four or more hours.
Continue Reading Banking Regulators Approve Final Rule Establishing Cyber Incident Notification Requirements

On 10 November 2021, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom handed down its much-awaited judgment in the case of Lloyd v Google LLC [2021] UKSC 50.  The Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the claim, which is a representative action alleging breaches of the Data Protection Act 1998 (“DPA 1998”), could not proceed.

The Supreme

The past few years have brought monumental changes to how we handle international data transfers from the EU. Schrems I, GDPR, Schrems II, Brexit and now the new Standard Contractual Clauses, published in June, 2021.

Here we share our views on improvements and challenges this modernised version of the SCCs has brought and how it

Colorado is set to become the third state in the nation to enact comprehensive privacy legislation with the passing of SB 21-190, more commonly known as the Colorado Privacy Act (“ColoPA” or the “Act”). Governor Jared Polis is expected to sign the ColoPA into law in the coming days, after which

Recent developments in a lawsuit have illustrated the importance of maintaining sufficient data security measures and responding adequately to data breaches, which topics are addressed in Cleary Gottlieb’s Global Crisis Management Handbook in depth. A class-action lawsuit in the Northern District of California against Robinhood Financial, LLC, a securities trading platform, alleges that unauthorized users