Data protection authorities across Europe have recently imposed significant fines on companies for violations of data protection laws. We bring to your attention decisions related to breaches of direct marketing and profiling below.

A telecommunications company fined €50 million by the French Supervisory Authority

On 23 January 2025, the French Supervisory Authority (CNIL) fined a

The European Union (EU) is introducing new regulations for online and tech businesses to create a consistent legal framework across various sectors. By 2025, several European and German laws will come into effect. Want to know which ones? Keep reading! This alert provides a quick overview of what these 2025 frameworks are about, who they

UK NIS and critical national infrastructure updates

The UK government recently created a page on the new Cybersecurity and Resilience Bill updating the Network and Information Systems (NIS) Regulations 2018. There is no draft of the bill available yet, but it is confirmed the Bill will cover five sectors (transport, energy, drinking water, health, and

In a rapidly evolving technological landscape, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has released crucial guidance on managing risks associated with generative AI (GenAI). Our latest client alert delves into the newly published GenAI Profile (NIST AI 600-1), which outlines 12 potential high-level risks and offers actionable strategies for mitigation by breaking down

Witnessing the race to harness the power of Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) by markets and businesses, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”), recently issued a warning over the emerging technology and its ever-widening use cases. Citing its authority under Section 6(b) of the FTC Act, the Commissioners voted 5-0 on July 19 in favor of issuing investigative

The German Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (Bundesministerium für Digitales und Verkehr – BMDV) has drawn up a new draft bill which shall introduce:

  • (i) a statutory obligation for providers of number-independent interpersonal communication services (e.g. instant messaging services) to allow their users to use end-to-end encryption (“E2EE”), and (ii) a statutory transparency obligation for such providers to inform their users accordingly; and
  • a statutory transparency obligation for providers of certain cloud services to inform their users about how to use continuous and secure encryption (“Draft Bill”).

The Draft Bill (status 7 February 2024), which does not have any basis in EU law, is available here (German content).Continue Reading Germany’s government plans to introduce a statutory ‘right to encryption’ for users of messaging and cloud storage services

On 26 November 2023, the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), together with the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), published joint ‘Guidelines for Secure AI System Development’ (the Guidelines).

The Guidelines were formulated by CISA and the NCSC, in cooperation with 21 other international agencies and ministries, as well as industry experts.Continue Reading UK & US cybersecurity agencies release new ‘Guidelines for Secure AI System Development’

On 3 October 2023, the UK Information Commissioner’s Office organised its annual Data Protection Practioner’s Conference 2023 (DPPC 2023). This year its focus was on Cybersecurity – a topic that concerns organisations across the board. Here are the takeaways from the DPPC 2023 (the event sessions available here).Continue Reading The UK Information Commissioner’s Data Protection Practioner’s Conference 2023 on Cybersecurity

On August 18, 2023, the Fourth Circuit decertified approximately 20 million putative class action claims arising out of a 2018 data breach involving Marriott Hotels. See here. The Fourth Circuit reversed the district court’s certification and required it to consider in the first instance whether all of the putative plaintiffs waived their claims by signing class action waivers when they registered to be part of the Starwood Preferred Guest Program (“SPG”). The SPG waiver specifically stated that “Any disputes arising out of or related to the SPG Program or the[] SPG Program Terms will be handled individually without any class action ….”Continue Reading Fourth Circuit Decision Highlights Class Action Waivers for Data Breaches are Alive and Well

On July 26, 2023, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) adopted new rules specifying enhanced disclosure regarding cybersecurity risk management, strategy governance, and incident disclosure. The SEC first proposed new cybersecurity rules back in March 2022. The agency’s comments to the final rule suggest greater disclosure and improved consistency of disclosures will benefit investors. Several of the key aspects of the final rules are outlined below, and ultimately will probably be navigable for organizations with meaningful incident response and evaluation experience as well as robust risk management programs which already include and evaluate cybersecurity.Continue Reading SEC Issues Final Cybersecurity Rules Enhancing and Modifying Disclosure Requirements: Companies will want to Measure Twice and Cut Once