Last year, we discussed the first enforcement action brought by the New York State Department of Financial Services (“DFS”), which involved charges against First American Title Insurance Company. That hearing is scheduled for April 5. On March 3, 2021, the DFS reached its first full resolution under its Part 500 Cybersecurity Regulation, a Consent Order with Residential Mortgage Services that…

Virginia has just become the second U.S. state  with a comprehensive privacy law, with Governor Ralph Northam’s signing of the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (“VCDPA”) on March 2, 2021. The VCDPA bears a strong resemblance to the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”). It also pulls U.S. law in the direction of its overseas cousin, the European Union’s General Data…

On March 3, 2021, Anna Gressel and Avi Gesser from our Data Strategy and Security Group had a very interesting conversation on AI regulation with Kaitlin Asrow, Fintech Policy Advisor for the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. During the webcast, we discussed the FRB’s recent report, “The Role of Individuals in the Data Ecosystem,” as well as: How consumer…

On February 4 and 11, 2021, Robin L. Barton of the Hedge Fund Law Report published a two-part article on the risks of business email compromise scams: Eleven Lessons From Cyber Hack That Forced an Australian Hedge Fund to Close.  The article features a lengthy interview with Avi Gesser, a partner in the Debevoise Data Strategy and Security Practice, during…

Companies face increasing cybersecurity and AI risk from third-party vendors.  Cybersecurity risks arise when companies share sensitive personal data or company information with their vendors or when their vendors have direct access to the company’s information systems. Companies using AI technology that is developed by a vendor can also face risk if the AI behaves unexpectedly, and that results in…

As covered in our Annual Review, 2020 was a blockbuster year for European data protection. If January is anything to go by, 2021 will be the same.  New data breach notification guidance from the European Data Protection Board (“EDPB”), multi-million Euro penalties from DPAs in Germany, Spain and Norway, and court rulings on discriminatory use of algorithms, the one-stop-shop and…

On 19 January 2021, the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (the “ICO”) published its September 2020 letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) analysing the GDPR’s impact on UK-based SEC-regulated firms’ (“SEC–Regulated UK Firms”) ability to comply with SEC data requests. Although the letter was greeted by Acting SEC Chairman Roisman as confirmation that the “UK GDPR does not…

Over two years since the GDPR came into force, the full extent of its impact is still developing at pace.  In this post, we look back at the 2020 European data protection landscape and five trends that help companies understand not only where we are, but where data protection enforcement, litigation, and practice may be headed. 1. Enforcement against a…

Introduction For those following emerging artificial intelligence (“AI”) regulations and enforcement closely, one issue of great interest is remedies. In particular: in what circumstances, if any, would regulators or courts find that a flawed machine learning or AI model must be scrapped entirely? A hot-off-the-press decision from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (the “FTC”) suggests regulators will not shy away…

On January 6, 2021, Avi Gesser and Anna Gressel from Debevoise’s Data Strategy and Security Group and Keith Slattery from Debevoise’s Insurance Group has an insightful conversation with Stefan Toi from Aon Cyber Solutions and Marcello Antonucci from Beazley on cyber insurance coverage and the gaps it may leave for the unique risks posed by artificial intelligence. During the webcast,…