Earlier this month, the UK Government published a consultation on plans to implement the EU Directive on security of network and information systems (the “NIS Directive”, otherwise known as the Cybersecurity Directive). The consultation includes a proposal to fine firms that fail to implement “appropriate and proportionate security measures” up to EUR 20 million or
August 2017
Another Large Equity Fund Sharpens its Focus on Climate Risk Disclosures
Today The Vanguard Group, the Nation’s second largest fund group with over $4 trillion in assets under management, issued three publications — a press release, an open letter by Vanguard’s CEO, and its 2017 Investment Stewardship Annual Report — highlighting Vanguard’s evolving view that responsible disclosure and management of climate risk is…
Digital Health Check-Up: Key Questions Market Players Should Be Asking
On our sister blog, CovingtonDigitalHealth, our global cross-practice digital health team has launched a three-part series on the key questions the technology, life sciences and communications industries should be considering as they fit together the regulatory and commercial pieces of the complex digital health puzzle. Read the first post in the series here.
Recent Cases on E-Mail “Spoofing” Coverage Highlight the Impact of Specific Crime Policy Wordings
By Benjamin Duke, Matt Schlesinger, and Scott Levitt
[This article was also published as a Client Alert.]
Two recent federal district court decisions involving computer “spoofing” scams highlight the uncertainty about whether such incidents may be covered under standard “computer fraud” provisions in widely used crime insurance forms. The conflicting results in these cases…
Digital Health Checkup: Key Questions Market Players Should Be Asking (Part One)
In the first of a three-part series, Covington’s global cross-practice Digital Health team answers key questions that companies across the life sciences, technology, and communications industries should be asking as they seek to fit together the regulatory and commercial pieces of the complex digital health puzzle.
Key Regulatory Questions About Digital Health Solutions
1. What…
Ninth Circuit Holds That Spokeo Plaintiff Has Standing to Proceed on Claim Over Inaccurate Information
The closely watched lawsuit alleging Spokeo, Inc., violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”) may proceed, after a federal appeals court ruled — on remand from the Supreme Court — that publication of the inaccuracies alleged by the plaintiff would constitute a sufficiently “concrete” harm to give the plaintiff standing to sue in federal court. …
Bar to Data Breach Litigation May Be Dropping; Implications for Digital Health Technologies
At the beginning of August, the D.C. Circuit found that the fact that a data breach has occurred and individual consumer information has been lost may constitute sufficient injury to confer standing on those individual victims at the pleading stage–irrespective of whether any stolen information has been misused. Specifically, Attias, et al. v. CareFirst, Inc.…
New CAAs on Exchange of CbC Reports Pushes Total to 20
The IRS has concluded competent authority arrangements (“CAAs”) for the exchange of country-by-country (“CbC”) reports with Australia and the United Kingdom. The CAA with Australia was signed in Australia on July 14 and by the United States on August 1. The CAA with the United Kingdom was signed on August 16. The new arrangements bring…
CIA Torture Case Is A Cautionary Tale for Contractors on The Battlefield
By Alex L. Sarria and Marianne F. Kies
The recent settlement of a noteworthy “contractor-on-the-battlefield” case should serve as a cautionary tale to government contractors that perform high-risk work in support of military operations. In Suleiman Abdullah Salim v. James E. Mitchell and John Jessen, No. CV-15-0286, three foreign plaintiffs filed Alien Tort Statute (“ATS”)…
Is The Hutchins Indictment Over Malware Unconstitutional?
By Alex Berengaut
[This article also was published in Law360.]
In May 2017, the “WannaCry” malware was used to launch a worldwide ransomware cyberattack. WannaCry encrypted files on victim computers and demanded a ransom payable in bitcoin to provide the encryption key. The attack was stopped when a British security researcher, Marcus Hutchins, accidentally…