January 2016
Cybersecurity and Data Privacy: 2016 Outlook
As the cybersecurity and data privacy landscapes continue to shift around
the world, the value for businesses of understanding those threats and
responding in a strategic, coordinated and enterpriseâ€wide fashion will
be greater than ever in 2016.
Cybersecurity and data privacy were top priority
issues in 2015 for companies in a broad range of
industries. Businesses took an array of steps to
identify and mitigate the legal, reputational and
business risks associated with these issues. For
example, many businesses strengthened internal
plans and capabilities to defend company
networks and to respond to cybersecurity
incidents, ensured effective oversight by their
boards of directors, fine-tuned vendor
agreements to account for cybersecurity and
data privacy interests and worked closely with
policy makers at the state and federal levels.
Businesses also increasingly engaged with
regulatory and enforcement agencies and, where
necessary, contested high-stakes class actions.
This year is poised to see cybersecurity and data
privacy continue to grow in importance for
companies doing business in the United States
and for US businesses operating globally. Here,
we highlight five priority issues that these
companies should consider as they assess, refine
and operate their cybersecurity and data privacy
programs in 2016:
ï‚· Increasingly global governance of
cybersecurity and data privacy;
ï‚· Expanding regulatory and enforcement activity;
ï‚· Continued growth in cybersecurity and data
privacy litigation;
ï‚· Substantial law enforcement activity; and
ï‚· Expanding global and technological scope of
policy debates.
Increasingly Global Governance of
Cybersecurity and Data Privacy
Many of the most significant cybersecurity and
data privacy developments for US companies
may well be seen outside the United States in
2016.
Multinational businesses must navigate an
expanding array of international statutes,
regulations and enforcement policies.
Increasingly, so, too, must businesses without
any international footprint. A company’s data
may very well cross borders—whether to be
stored at an international data center (e.g., for a
private cloud) or to be processed remotely
(e.g., by a payroll service)—even for otherwisedomestic businesses.
Last year saw significant upheaval in the legal
regimes governing cybersecurity and data
privacy across the globe, most notably with the
invalidation of the US-EU safe harbor scheme.
.
the European Union and will apply to
foreign entities that offer goods or services
to individuals in the European Union.
In 2016, businesses should expect to see
continued evolution in the international sphere.
Three trends are likely to be particularly
significant:
ï‚· Continued Evolution of Data Transfer
Regimes. The Schrems decision by the Court
of Justice of the European Union in October
2015 invalidated the Safe Harbor regime upon
which many companies relied for their
transfer of personal data from Europe to the
United States. Representatives from the US
Department of Commerce and the European
Commission had already begun negotiating a
“Safe Harbor 2.0” when the Schrems opinion
was handed down, but the likelihood of the
success of the negotiations remains unclear.
Some national data protection authorities in
Europe have threatened that, absent sufficient
progress by January 31, 2016, they will begin
bringing enforcement actions and potentially
start to investigate the legitimacy of other
transfer methods. Such steps could have
dramatic implications for companies
transferring data from the European
Union to the United States.
ï‚· Expansion of Regulatory Regimes.
Companies will face a host of new and
expanding cybersecurity and data privacy
regulatory regimes across the globe in 2016.
Companies will be required to navigate many
of these regulations for the first time, even
as more rules are developed in other
jurisdictions.
For example:
ï€
Europe. In December 2015, the European
Commission released a new General Data
Protection Regulation, which is to be
approved by the European Parliament in
early 2016 and to take effect by early 2018.
This regulation will substantially revise
data protection and privacy rules for
covered businesses (called “data
controllers” under the regulation) and
impose a new breach notification
requirement. The regulation will
harmonize data protection laws across
ï€
Indonesia.
In 2016, Indonesia will
implement the first data protection law
in the country’s history. Companies doing
business in Indonesia will be subject to
its various requirements regarding
data collection, usage, management
and transfer.
ï€
Australia. Amendments to laws in
Australia now require covered businesses
to disclose any “serious data breach” to the
Office of the Australian Information
Commissioner and take reasonable steps
to notify individuals whose data has been
compromised by a breach.
ï‚· Continued International Engagement
on Cybersecurity and Data Privacy.
In
2015, there was significant international
discussion and debate on cybersecurity and
data privacy, including between the United
States and China. For example, in September
2015, President Obama and President Xi
Jinping publicly confronted the thorny issue
of economic espionage by agreeing that
neither country’s government would conduct
or knowingly support the cyber-enabled theft
of confidential business information, trade
secrets or other intellectual property in order
to provide competitive benefits to their own
industries. Then, in December, China passed a
new counter-terrorism law that requires
Internet service providers to disclose
encryption keys to government authorities
and to enhance their monitoring and
reporting of Internet content.
This year is
likely to bring continued international
developments on a broad range of contentious
cybersecurity and data privacy issues. These
changes may have substantial consequences
for businesses, potentially altering the scale
and origin of the cyber threats they face, their
access to foreign markets and the scope of
their responsibilities in foreign jurisdictions
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from the use of collected data. As with other
topics, other regulators at the state and
federal levels are likely to collaborate with the
FTC or otherwise follow its lead.
Expanding Regulatory and Enforcement
Activity
Like their international counterparts, regulatory
and enforcement agencies in the United States
continued to expand their activities addressing
cybersecurity and data privacy issues in 2015. As
different federal and state agencies pursued
their own distinct agendas, businesses faced a
growing patchwork of regulatory requirements—
a trend that is set to continue in 2016. The likely
common denominators of these are more
expansive and detailed rules and more frequent
enforcement of those rules.
Consequently,
companies in a wide variety of industries should
expect greater scrutiny and more substantial
compliance costs as yet more agencies enter the
regulatory field, new rules are implemented and
regulated entities are examined for compliance
with these new rules. In particular, companies
should expect:
ï‚· Greater Regulatory and Enforcement
Activities by the Federal Trade
Commission (FTC) Across a Broad
Range of Fields. In 2015, the US Court of
Appeals for the Third Circuit affirmed the
FTC’s ability to regulate cybersecurity
practices through its “unfairness” authority
under Section 5 of the FTC Act.
Likewise, the
FTC signaled its intent to aggressively enforce
existing privacy laws and to focus on such
evolving areas as big data, tracking consumers
across devices and privacy notices for mobile
applications. Companies should expect the
FTC to pursue these topics throughout 2016,
including through guidance regarding best
practices, white papers, workshops and
enforcement actions. For example, in June
2015, the FTC released a guide highlighting
lessons learned from its 50-plus law
enforcement actions concerning data security.
Additionally, the FTC has made clear that it
may bring enforcement actions on a wide
range of theories relating to the use of big
data, de-anonymization and the potential
disparate effects on certain consumers arising
ï‚· Continued Expansion of Cybersecurity
Regulation by Financial Services
Regulators.
Federal regulators of banks and
other financial services companies have long
been active in the oversight of cybersecurity at
regulated entities. Often, their actions have set
the tone for other regulated industries, as
other federal and state regulators have
adopted similar principles for their respective
industries. This trend of financial services
regulators acting aggressively on cybersecurity
is on track to continue at the federal and state
levels.
For example, the New York State
Department of Financial Services is set to
embark on a major rulemaking in 2016. This
regulator of New York-chartered banks and
insurance companies (including non-US
banks doing business in New York) is
expected to propose new requirements
regarding; cybersecurity policies and
procedures; management of third-party
service providers; multi-factor authentication;
appointment of a Chief Information Security
Officer; application security; audits; and
notice in the event of a cybersecurity incident.
ï‚· Amendments to State Data Breach
Notification Requirements.
The patchwork of state data security and data
breach notification laws continues to grow
more complex in the continuing absence of
federal standards. Companies should expect
this trend to continue in 2016.
For example,
the California legislature revised its data
breach laws effective January 1, 2016, to
expand and clarify the existing notice
requirements and to specify forms for notices.
Entities around the country will need to
consider California’s new requirements, as
well as any potential incompatibility with
other states’ notice requirements. (And
companies will need to remain cognizant of
3 Mayer Brown | Cybersecurity and Data Privacy: 2016 Outlook
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their obligations under relevant state data
security regulations, such as by
implementation of a written information
security program to satisfy Massachusetts law,
where applicable.)
ï‚· Increased Regulation and Examination
of Cybersecurity in the Securities and
Commodities Markets. Regulatory
agencies with supervisory authority over
broker-dealers, investment advisers and
financial market utilities have made it clear
that cybersecurity will be an increasing focus
of supervisory exams. In 2014 and 2015, for
example, the Financial Industry Regulatory
Authority (FINRA) and the Securities and
Exchange Commission (SEC) reviewed the
cybersecurity practices of a sample of brokerdealers and investment advisers and
determined that there was a need to
incorporate cybersecurity preparedness
assessments in regulatory examinations.
Similarly, in 2015, the Commodity Futures
Trading Commission (CFTC) held a
roundtable with industry experts to identify
cyber threats to its regulated financial market
utilities, and the National Futures Association
(NFA) adopted requirements and guidance
related to “Information Systems Security
Programs.” Entities in these industries
should expect this focus to be reflected in
regulatory guidance issued and examinations
performed in 2016.
ï‚· Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) Rulemaking To Develop Privacy
Rules for Internet Service Providers.
The FCC’s reclassification of Internet service
as a telecommunications service last year
opened the door to new privacy regulations
for providers of broadband Internet service.
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has stated that
this rulemaking could begin in early 2016.
These new rules could address data breach
notification, customer consent to share data,
data protection and other significant issues
for Internet service providers.
Continued Growth in Cybersecurity and
Data Privacy Litigation
There were important developments in
cybersecurity and data privacy class action
litigation in 2015. Significant decisions, such as
the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit’s
decision arising from the Neiman Marcus
breach, were issued by courts of appeals.
In
addition, the US Supreme Court heard argument
in Spokeo v. Robins, which considers whether
the violation of a right that triggers statutory
damages can substitute for injury-in-fact for
purposes of Article III standing.
The pace of data breach litigation continued to
increase in 2015. Plaintiffs filed nearly 250 class
actions respecting some 35 different data
breaches last year.
This year, litigation continues
to be likely in the aftermath of large-scale data
breaches and, increasingly, more smaller-scale
data breaches as well. Indeed, 2016 is poised to
continue trends seen in 2015, including:
significant disputes over whether consumer
plaintiffs have alleged cognizable injury for
Article III standing—and thus may proceed past
the pleading stage; litigation over
indemnification for expenses sustained by third
parties as a result of a data breach (e.g., disputes
regarding insurance coverage under
cybersecurity policies); and the pursuit of data
breach-related derivative lawsuits in a limited
number of cases.
In addition, 2016 is almost certain to see courts
more frequently decide issues that are relatively
novel in the data breach context. These include:
ï‚· Class Certification.
Data breach plaintiffs
routinely employ tactics from the outset of
litigation in an attempt to overcome the
predominance requirement for class
certification. For instance, to avoid the issue
of having to prove damages on an individual
basis, they have attempted to assert claims for
injunctive relief under state consumer fraud
statutes—which allow for recovery of
attorneys’ fees—to require that companies
4 Mayer Brown | Cybersecurity and Data Privacy: 2016 Outlook
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implement specific data security safeguards.
What is more, in non-data breach class
actions, a number of courts have been willing
to certify class actions to resolve common
issues, even where individual issues of injury
and the amount of damages exist and would
have to be addressed in a more individualized
proceeding after the common issues are
resolved. In spite of such maneuvering, class
certification is likely to remain a major hurdle
for data breach class action plaintiffs in 2016
(despite some notable exceptions in 2015).
However, the risk that companies will have to
defend data breach litigation on the merits
against a certified class is growing, making it
increasingly important—from a litigation
perspective—for businesses to take reasonable
cybersecurity measures prior to a data breach.
ï‚· Discovery. In 2016, it is likely that we will
see more decisions on the scope of discovery
in the data breach context. In 2015, for
example, a federal magistrate judge found
that certain documents created by a task force
established by in-house and outside counsel
to educate the attorneys about a breach and
to enable them to provide legal advice to the
affected company were privileged.
A key
issue in this decision was whether the
documents at issue were created for a
legal or business purpose.
ï‚· Summary Judgment. This year may
provide significant developments with respect
to summary judgment in data breach
litigation. Three noteworthy issues to be
considered at this stage are: (i) the proper
standard of care (i.e., what security safeguards
was the affected company required to
implement); (ii) what types of injuries are
legally compensable (e.g., whether time spent
to respond to a data breach or fees paid for
data breach protection are recoverable); and
(iii) causation and actual injury (i.e., whether
plaintiffs can prove that the data breach
caused those injuries).
While data breach cases continue to proliferate
and to dominate headlines, recent studies have
reported a significantly greater number of data
privacy lawsuits in the last few years.
Data
privacy lawsuits have pursued complaints under
statutes ranging from the Telephone Consumer
Protection Act (TCPA) to the Fair Credit
Reporting Act (FCRA). This trend is also likely to
continue in 2016, as plaintiffs try to fit new
technologies and new uses under existing laws.
The increasing connectivity of devices and their
use throughout consumers’ day-to-day lives
appears certain to produce a steady stream
of aggressive legal claims.
Substantial Law Enforcement Activity
Highly publicized cyber intrusions in 2015
underscored the increasing productivity,
sophistication and diversification of cyber threat
actors’ schemes. Such schemes targeted
intellectual property, proprietary pricing data
and medical information, among other types of
sensitive information.
They also damaged
companies’ systems, imposed significant
financial and reputational costs and even
threatened national security interests. Law
enforcement agencies continue to evolve to
address these threats to the private sector, and
businesses should expect 2016 to see substantial
law enforcement activity, further raising
the importance of developing productive
relationships with relevant authorities
before a crisis arises.
ï‚· Prosecuting Cybercriminals. The number
of cybercrime investigations and prosecutions
is expected to increase in 2016 and continue
the long-term trend of growing collaboration
among domestic and foreign agencies to
target threat actors around the world.
For
example, the US Department of Justice plans
to disrupt and dismantle 1,000 cyber threat
actors and to resolve 90 percent of national
security and criminal cyber cases during the
next fiscal year. These ambitious targets
reflect the vast augmentation of resources that
5 Mayer Brown | Cybersecurity and Data Privacy: 2016 Outlook
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the government has brought to bear against
the cyber threat. Since 2002, the FBI’s
number of cyber intrusion investigations has
grown by more than 80 percent. And, since
2010, the US Secret Service’s cybercrime
investigations have resulted in more than
5,000 arrests associated with more than $12
billion in actual and potential fraud losses.
ï‚· International Engagement. To continue at
this pace and reach or exceed their targets,
federal law enforcement agencies will need to
cooperate extensively with their domestic and
international counterparts.
For example, in
2015, a prosecution for an alleged hacking and
insider trading scheme was the result of
collaboration among a who’s who of law
enforcement agencies: the US Department of
Justice, SEC, US Department of Homeland
Security, US Secret Service, FBI, FINRA, UK
Financial Conduct Authority and the Danish
Financial Supervisory Authority. Similarly,
the arrest, extradition and prosecution of
Vladimir Drinkman for a data breach
conspiracy involving over 160 million
compromised credit card numbers resulted
from coordination among law enforcement
agencies in multiple countries. International
cooperation of this sort will continue to
define many of the most high-profile
cybercrime investigations.
ï‚· Partnership with the Private Sector.
For years, law enforcement agencies have
viewed partnerships with private entities as
critical to promoting cybersecurity.
According
to a 2010 White House report, “[p]rivatesector engagement is required to help address
the limitations of law enforcement and
national security.” As is discussed in greater
detail below, the Cybersecurity Information
Sharing Act is expected to augment both the
government and the private sector’s access to
information about cyber threats and to bring
new private-sector players into the
conversation. Overall, law enforcement
agencies expect that this broader private
sector participation will help them to
investigate threat actors and disrupt their
attacks and schemes.
Expanding Global and Technological
Scope of Policy Debates
Policy debates shifted in 2015 as cybersecurity
and data privacy issues attracted both national
and global prominence. Policy developments in
2016 likely will continue this trend.
For example,
it is expected that: (i) industry will take
advantage of significant legal authorities
approved in 2015, such as the Cybersecurity
Information Sharing Act and new “cyber
sanctions,” both of which will require effective
collaboration between the private sector and
government; (ii) long-standing debates about
privacy and security will be moved to the global
stage (and likely become more political as the US
presidential election approaches); and (iii) the
proliferation of toys, devices and machines that
are connected to the Internet will present new
cybersecurity and data privacy challenges.
ï‚· Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act
of 2015. In December 2015, the multiyear
debate over the appropriate mechanisms and
legal protections for cybersecurity information
sharing came to a close with passage of the
Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act. This
legislation provides new authorities for
private sector businesses to monitor and
defend their networks and share cyber threat
information with the federal government and
other private sector entities.
With the ground
rules for information sharing between and
among the private sector and government now
set, 2016 presents opportunities for
businesses to take advantage of the authorities
and liability protections this law offers.
ï‚· Cyber Sanctions. The US government is
poised to use economic sanctions in 2016 as a
new tool to deter foreign hackers from
stealing vital assets from businesses—whether
source code or confidential negotiating
6 Mayer Brown | Cybersecurity and Data Privacy: 2016 Outlook
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positions. Last year, President Obama issued
Executive Order 13694, which created a new
sanctions program aimed at actors outside of
the United States who threaten US national
security or target the country’s critical
infrastructure, computer networks,
intellectual property, economic resources or
other vital assets. An initial set of regulations
was published in the Federal Register on
December 31, 2015, and it could only be a
matter of time before the first entities are
added to the sanctions list.
ï‚· Encryption. As countries increasingly ask
technology companies for law enforcement
access to communications, the question of
encryption has become a global issue.
Last
year saw the rise of the public debate over
encryption, and 2016 is likely to see it play
out on a global stage. This significant policy
debate may well become even more polarized
during the year of a presidential election in
the United States, posing potential hindrances
to passing legislation or reaching
international consensus.
ï‚· Internet of Things. There was a significant
increase in policy debates in 2015 concerning
cybersecurity and data privacy issues raised
by the Internet of Things.
From consumer
products to industrial machinery, the
cybersecurity and data privacy implications of
the Internet of Things were scrutinized by
Congress and executive branch policymakers.
Automotive cybersecurity and data privacy
issues, for example, were the focus of multiple
pieces of proposed legislation and of
regulatory study. Likewise, the Food and Drug
Administration recently issued guidance on
post-market management of cybersecurity in
medical devices. This year will likely see
continued growth in policymakers’ attention
to the Internet of Things as the number,
kind and capability of connected devices
continues to grow.
Cybersecurity and data privacy present novel,
complex and global issues across the legal, policy
and regulatory spectrum.
These developments
pose challenges that demand a proactive, riskbased response. Businesses must address these
risks in a holistic fashion that reflects the
strategic interests of their organizations and is
effectively coordinated across their enterprises.
From board oversight to the drafting of an
outsourcing contract, from policy development
to breach response, and from regulatory
rulemaking to litigation, businesses should
understand the risks they face and deliver a
considered and multifaceted response. As the
cybersecurity and data privacy landscapes
continue to shift around the world, the value for
businesses of understanding those threats and
responding in a strategic, coordinated and
enterprise-wide fashion will be greater than
ever in 2016.
For more information about the topics raised in
this 2016 Outlook, please contact any of the
following Cybersecurity & Data Privacy
practice team lawyers.
Matthew Bisanz
+ 1 202 263 3434
mbisanz@mayerbrown.com
Kendall C.
Burman
+1 202 263 3210
kburman@mayerbrown.com
Marcus A. Christian
+1 202 263 3731
mchristian@mayerbrown.com
Rajesh De
+1 202 263 3366
rde@mayerbrown.com
Laura R. Hammargren
+1 312 701 8146
lhammargren@mayerbrown.com
7 Mayer Brown | Cybersecurity and Data Privacy: 2016 Outlook
.
Charles E. Harris
+1 312 701 8934
charris@mayerbrown.com
Gabriela Kennedy
+852 2843 2380
gabriela.kennedy@mayerbrownjsm.com
Robert J. Kriss
+ 1 312 701 7165
rkriss@mayerbrown.com
Stephen Lilley
+1 202 263 3865
slilley@mayerbrown.com
Mark A. Prinsley
+44 20 3130 3900
mprinsley@mayerbrown.com
Joshua M.
Silverstein
+1 202 263 3208
jsilverstein@mayerbrown.com
Jeffrey P. Taft
+ 1 202 263 3293
jtaft@mayerbrown.com
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Howard W. Waltzman
+1 202 263 3848
hwaltzman@mayerbrown.com
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+1 213 621 9450
ewooten@mayerbrown.com
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+44 20 3130 3698
oyaros@mayerbrown.com
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+49 211 86224 169
gzeppenfeld@mayerbrown.com
8 Mayer Brown | Cybersecurity and Data Privacy: 2016 Outlook
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