We ended 2017 by making predictions about what 2018 will bring to the privacy and cybersecurity world.  We’ll start 2018 by looking at how we fared in our 2017 predictions.  Spoiler alert, we nailed it. Expansion of Breach Notification Requirements We’ll give ourselves half credit for this one. While some states took action, Michigan did not […]

With Uber joining Equifax, JP Morgan, Target and others as the latest victim of a high-profile data breach, all companies should be evaluating how they can protect themselves from data breaches and the fallout.  Over the past month, we have covered how to encrypt your laptop and covered how to send secure emails.  Even if […]

Last week we told you about the $2.5 million laptop.  What if we told you that fine could have been avoided with one, simple step?  That’s right there would have been no data breach and no $2.5 million fine if the stolen laptop had been encrypted. In this post, we’ll discuss encryption basics, including how […]

The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) recently announced (https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2017/09/three-companies-agree-settle-ftc-charges-they-falsely-claimed) that it had settled charges against three different companies for misleading consumers about their participation in the EU-US Privacy Shield (“Privacy Shield”) framework.  These are the FTC’s first enforcement actions brought under the Privacy Shield. The FTC alleged the three companies falsely claimed they were certified to […]

Yesterday. on September 7, 2017, Equifax, a credit monitoring agency, announced that the personal information of nearly half of all Americans may have been breached.  According to Equifax, criminals used “a U.S. website application vulnerability” to gain access to files that contained names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses and driver’s license numbers. Equifax stated […]

On August 1, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals joined a growing number of federal courts holding the risk of future harm is enough to allow a class action to proceed following a data breach. Attias v. CareFirst, Inc., et al., involves a federal class action lawsuit brought by customers whose personal information was allegedly […]

The Economic Club of Grand Rapids hosted a luncheon last Monday, May 8, addressing cybersecurity. Miller Johnson sponsored the event and several members of the Privacy and Cybersecurity team attended to hear the presentation of former FBI cyber expert James Trainor.  During his time at the FBI, Mr. Trainor investigated some of the world’s largest […]

The fear of a HIPAA breach keeps health care providers up at night. Two recent HIPAA fines are going to lead to more sleepless nights.

A look at the top issues facing industries related to data privacy and security, date regulations, litigation after breaches and more.

Welcome to Miller Johnson’s Cybersecurity and Privacy Blog. The goal of this blog is to help business leaders sleep a little better by sharing insights that help businesses understand and manage today’s cybersecurity risks.