EDITOR’S DESK

In its prediction of cybersecurity trends for the next decade, consultancy McKinsey and Co. noted the risks of a breach that companies take by storing massive volumes of data on the cloud, and then granting access to vendors and suppliers. Managing those risks is the subject of Peter Selvin’s article in this issue of Today's General Counsel. Among them, make sure that the definition of “insured computer network” in your policy includes the networks of your vendors and other service providers, and tell third parties you deal with to name your company as an additional insured under their policies.

The subject of Hunter McMahon’s article is a recent Illinois Supreme Court decision concerning the state’s Biometric Information Privacy Act. The Court ruled that damages of $1,000 per negligent violation or $5,000 per intentional violation under the Act apply to each instance of improperly collected data. As an illustration of how the law could be construed under this ruling, McMahon notes that a time clock using the technology at issue in the case, fingerprint ID, could commit 4-8 violations per day per employee.

Jeffrey J. Bakker writes about new rules the SEC adopted last August that aim to help investors understand the relationship between the compensation of a company’s named executive officers and its financial performance, and Todd Presnell discusses recent developments in the corporate attorney/client privilege area. In January, the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed a case that would have set the standard for privilege protection of in-house lawyer’s communications which contain both legal and non-legal advice. Presnell says Federal law will likely govern communications related to patents and trademarks, and state privilege law will define protections related to breaches of contract.

Bob Nienhouse, Editor-In-Chief

bnienhouse@TodaysGC.com