IT Security & Privacy

Meta Platforms, Inc. is facing a serious financial and regulatory reckoning in South Korea. In a decisive move, the country’s Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) has fined Meta $15.6 million for a series of data privacy violations, including unauthorized handling of sensitive personal data, refusal to grant legitimate data access to users, and a failure to implement necessary security safeguards.

The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) released its first inaugural report today on the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (DPF), following a year-long assessment. The report addresses the Framework's effectiveness in safeguarding EU citizens' data when transferred to the United States. Additionally, the EDPB issued a statement on recommendations concerning law enforcement’s access to personal data, stressing the need for privacy protections.

The February cyberattack on Change Healthcare, now confirmed to have affected a staggering 100 million individuals, is more than a historic breach—it’s a wake-up call for the entire healthcare sector. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently confirmed the scale of this incident, making it one of the most significant exposures of personal health data in U.S. history. The breach shines a harsh light on cybersecurity fundamentals, particularly the overlooked areas of access management, incident response, and third-party risk oversight.

Global data protection authorities have issued a follow-up joint statement highlighting new measures for social media companies to enhance protections for personal information, as mass data scraping continues to pose risks, particularly in the age of artificial intelligence. This latest statement reflects insights from recent discussions between 17 data protection authorities and some of the largest social media platforms, deepening the collaboration initially sparked by a joint statement on data scraping in 2023.

In a strong message to UK organizations, Information Commissioner John Edwards has emphasized the critical need to prioritize data protection and privacy in order to mitigate the devastating ripple effects of data breaches.

Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) has agreed to pay $1.25 million to settle allegations of violating the False Claims Act, stemming from its failure to meet contractual cybersecurity requirements between 2018 and 2023. The university allegedly failed to implement cybersecurity controls mandated by the Department of Defense (DoD) and NASA on 15 contracts or subcontracts. These failures included misrepresenting the implementation of specific cybersecurity controls and using a cloud service provider that did not meet DoD’s security standards for handling sensitive defense information.

In what might be the hospitality industry's most expensive case of leaving the digital door unlocked, Marriott International and its subsidiary Starwood Hotels are checking out of their security nightmare with a $52 million bill and an FTC-mandated security makeover. The settlement, announced October 9, 2024, addresses three massive data breaches affecting over 344 million guests worldwide.