Harter Secrest & Emery LLP, a full-service business law firm with offices throughout New York, has launched a 24-hour Cybersecurity Incident and Breach Response Line in order to assist companies with responding to a cyberattack or data breach.
“The threat of a data breach, for all companies, no matter their size or geographic footprint, is very real. Hackers come in all shapes, sizes and levels of sophistication, and the incidence of cyberattacks increases practically by the week,” said F. Paul Greene, partner and leader of Harter Secrest & Emery’s Privacy and Data Security practice group. “In the event of a breach, seconds count. By using our response line, companies dealing with a breach event can readily connect with our team and immediately begin taking the steps for a response and recovery.”
Harter Secrest & Emery’s new response line, 1-800-232-3021, will connect callers directly with members of the firm’s Privacy and Data Security attorneys 24/7 who can provide breach coach guidance, including breach response and remediation support, crisis management and communication, post-breach reporting and notice, and advice and representation concerning potential litigation and regulatory enforcement.
In addition to the new response line, Harter Secrest & Emery’s website, www.hselaw.com, offers a host of tools to help companies assess their cyber risk and preparedness. Visitors to the website can download and complete a Legal/Regulatory Risk Inventory to help identify and understand the legal risks associated with a potential data breach. In addition, an interactive map provides a summary of the 48 different state-level data breach notification laws currently in effect in the United States. The variations in the laws, and the overlap and potential conflict between them, can make responding to a data breach difficult, whether a company does business in multiple states, or has customers, employees, or even former employees, in different states.
“Understanding the potential for and a company’s susceptibility to a breach event is as important as understanding how to respond to an actual breach event,” added John G. Horn, Harter Secrest & Emery partner and member of the firm’s Privacy and Data Security practice group. “The last thing you want to be doing in the face of a data breach, or even suspected breach, is coming up with a plan on the fly. Preparedness is everything.”
Harter Secrest & Emery Privacy and Data Security attorneys counsel clients of all sizes in a wide range of industries concerning all aspects of pre-breach preparation and risk management, including security and vulnerability assessments, policy and procedure review, breach response planning and drills, as well as board and management education on cyber risk issues. In the event of a breach, Greene, Horn and their colleagues provide a full array of breach coach and response services, including breach response and remediation, crisis management and communication, internal and governmental investigations, breach notification, and potential litigation or regulatory action. HSE data security clients include a major credit card and travel-related services company, a multi-state long-term care group, a regional health insurer, publically traded companies, a regional hospitality group, financial institutions, higher education institutions, and a large automotive dealership group, among others.