Annmarie Giblin Discusses Implications of Recently Unveiled Biden Administration National Cybersecurity Strategy

Hinshaw partner Annmarie Giblin discussed with Law360 the implications of a new National Cybersecurity Strategy unveiled by the Biden Administration last week. The new strategy calls for a more aggressive regulatory approach to dealing with hacking threats, including by backing a major shift in liability for data breaches and boosting security mandates for critical infrastructure operators.

Giblin referenced the legal battle between the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Covington & Burling LLP—in which the federal agency is demanding that the law firm turn over a list of clients impacted by a 2020 cyberattack to use as part of its investigation into potential securities law violations that may have happened after the attack —as a reason for concern regarding the strategy's plan to encourage cyberattack victims to report incidents to the FBI or other federal law enforcement, especially in situations where such reporting is not mandated by law. She said that  "[i]f you report these incidents to the FBI or to the government generally, and there is no protection from the government using that information in another way, the onus changes on what is the legal risk of making this voluntary disclosure."

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"4 Highlights From Biden's Beefed Up Cybersecurity Strategy" was published by Law360 on March 2, 2023