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New Suit by Delta Reminds Everyone About the Importance of Data Security Protection in the Context of Third-Party Service Provider Relationships

August 21, 2019

Privacy and Data Security

In a recent lawsuit filed this month in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Delta Airlines brought suit against its website chat services provider, [24]7, stemming from a 2017 data breach suffered by [24]7 that affected approximately 800,000 of Delta’s customers. Specifically, Delta alleges in its complaint that an attacker gained access to [24]7’s networks and modified the source code of its chat services so that the attacker could “scrape” payment card information from customers as they used the chat feature available on Delta’s website.

New York Continues Expansion of Protections Against Discrimination and Harassment

Edward J. Steve, Esq.

August 19, 2019

Labor and Employment

On August 12, 2019, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed legislation (S.6577/A.8421) that greatly expanded the protections for workplace discrimination and harassment. These additional protections come just a little over one year after the state enacted comprehensive legislation designed to combat sexual harassment.

Still Searching for Meaningful Change Following Massive Data Breaches

Anna S.M. McCarthy, Esq.

August 7, 2019

Privacy and Data Security

Large business data breaches - like the one affecting 100 million Capital One credit card customers and applicants - remain commonplace, so much so that they are becoming accepted as the new normal in today’s climate of consumer dealings. They shouldn’t be.

Update on Gifting: The Clawback Law Has Been Extended to January 1, 2026

Graham S. Leonard, Esq.

August 7, 2019

Trusts and Estates

As we wrote here earlier this year, Governor Cuomo proposed to extend the “clawback law,” which had expired on January 1, 2019, in his fiscal year 2020 Executive Budget. As a reminder, the clawback law pulled the value of all taxable gifts made within three years of a New York resident taxpayer’s death back into the New York resident taxpayer’s estate for New York estate tax purposes.

New York Raises the Stakes in Relation to Breach Reporting and Securing “Private Information”

F. Paul Greene, Esq.

July 29, 2019

Privacy and Data Security

Following up on our post from June 7, Governor Cuomo has now signed the SHIELD Act into law. New section 899-bb of the General Business Law, which creates substantive security obligations for all persons or businesses that own or license the defined “private information” of New Yorkers, goes into effect in 240 days, with the rest of the law taking effect within 90 days.

Defense Contractors Get Ready: DoD Close to Unveiling New Cyber Certification Program

Daniel J. Altieri, Esq.

July 12, 2019

Privacy and Data Security

The Department of Defense (“DoD”) recently announced that a new cybersecurity standard and certification program for defense contractors, the Cybersecurity Capability Model Certification program (“CCMC”), is currently under development and nearly ready for deployment.

What’s Old is New Again - NY SHIELD Act Passes the Senate

F. Paul Greene, Esq.

June 7, 2019

Privacy and Data Security

Cybersecurity law moves quickly and what may have been dead in one legislative session can come back in another to change the regulatory landscape in unexpected ways. Case in point, the NY SHIELD Act, S5575A, which passed in the New York Senate this week.

New York Changes Sole Member Rule

Joshua E. Gewolb, Esq.

June 1, 2019

Exempt Organizations

Effective July 1, the New York State legislature has modified a key provision of the Not-for-Profit Corporation Law (NPCL) regarding the ability of New York non-profits to establish a sole member structure. This change may require immediate adjustment to legal structures by affected non-profits.

More Paid Time Off to Vote in New York

Benjamin E. Mudrick, Esq.

May 3, 2019

Labor and Employment

New York has recently amended its voting leave law to make it easier for all employees to take time off to vote. Effective immediately, all employers in New York must provide employees who are registered to vote with “up to three hours” of paid time off at the beginning or end of a work shift to vote.

What I Learned from Teaching an Exempt Organizations Class

Joshua E. Gewolb, Esq.

April 30, 2019

Exempt Organizations

Most of my blog posts focus on current legal developments, however, for this one I thought I would mix things up and share what I learned while guest lecturing on exempt organizations for a recent law school “Law of Higher Education” class.

Mark to Market Guidance Issued for College and University Investment Excise Tax

Joshua E. Gewolb, Esq.

June 8, 2018

Exempt Organizations

Under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, colleges and universities with endowments over $500,000 per student are now required to pay a 1.4% excise tax on investment earnings.

The IRS has now provide guidance that will take a bit of the bite out of this new tax -- at least at first.

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Spreading the word about cyber regulatory risk

Harter Secrest & Emery LLP

June 6, 2018

Privacy and Data Security

So far 2018 has been a whirlwind of cyber regulatory activity, from the commencement of GDPR to new state-law data breach requirements to the New York State Department of Financial Services first compliance self-certification deadline. The complexity of the cyber legal landscape is only increasing, and in an effort to keep our clients ahead of the regulatory curve, the HSE Privacy and Data Security team has been on the road, spreading the word about cyber regulatory risk.

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New York Expands Anti-Harassment Requirements

Edward J. Steve, Esq.

May 18, 2018

Labor and Employment

On April 12, 2018, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed into law the New York State Budget Bill which includes several significant requirements to address workplace sexual harassment.

IRS Introduces TEOS Platform

Joshua E. Gewolb, Esq.

May 9, 2018

Exempt Organizations

On May 7th, the IRS introduced a new platform that will allow access to tax-exempt organizations’ public information more quickly and easily (See IRS-2018-116.) The Tax Exempt Organization Search (TEOS) replaces the old platform, EO Select Check. On TEOS, images of Form 990 recently filed will be available for the first time.

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Altaba, Formerly Yahoo, Settles Data Breach with SEC for $35 Million

Laura K. Schwalbe, Esq.

April 30, 2018

Privacy and Data Security

On April 24, 2018 the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced a settlement with Altaba, Inc., formerly Yahoo! Inc., for misleading investors by failing to disclose a data breach in which Russian hackers stole data for hundreds of millions of Yahoo accounts. This settlement and penalty, the first by the SEC following a data breach, comes in the wake of recent SEC guidance on cybersecurity risks and disclosures.

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