KMK Law Cybersecurity & Privacy Blog

On November 2, 2018 Ohio’s new Data Protection Act went into effect.  The Ohio DPA creates a new statutory affirmative defense against data breach tort claims and identifies specific cybersecurity frameworks that are now presumptively reasonable.  KMK Law  and Gratia, Inc. partnered together to discuss the impact of Ohio DPA on businesses, the steps companies need to take as a result, and what this “safe harbor” really means. 

Ohio recently enacted the Ohio Data Protection Act[1] which was part of Attorney General DeWine’s CyberOhio Initiative. The Act will go into effect on November 2, 2018. Every Ohio business should be familiar with the Ohio DPA and determine whether they can or want to qualify for the benefits. The Ohio DPA also provides another reminder of the importance of examining and evaluating your data protection and written information governance policies.

September 2018 was a busy month for data privacy. We expect the next several months to be extremely active as well, especially with the number of new complaints and data breach notices filed in Europe since May. We will continue to monitor and update developments as the data privacy framework continues to evolve.

G-Day is May 25, 2018, the day when the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR) is set to go into effect.  Even though the Regulation has been approved and available for review for more than a year, most companies are still working to determine whether GDPR applies and, if so, how to become GDPR compliant.  The litigators from KMK’s Cybersecurity and Privacy Team have prepared a Legal Alert which helps companies answer both questions. 

On February 20, 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued interpretive guidance to assist public companies in preparing disclosures about cybersecurity risks and incidents. This guidance indicates that the SEC is expecting more robust cybersecurity-related disclosures in the filings of public companies and encourages companies to implement comprehensive cybersecurity policies and procedures.