Target Data Breach Was the Result of BLACKPOS, an "off the shelf" malware created by a 17-year old

The massive data breach at Target during late last year used an inexpensive "off the shelf" malware known as BlackPOS. The same malware may have also been involved in the Neiman Marcus attack.  IntelCrawler, a Los-Angeles based cyber intelligence company, announced that the age of BlackPOS malware author is close to 17 years old and the first sample of it was created in March 2013 http://intelcrawler.com/about/pres...

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A Bite of the Apple: FTC Requires Apple to Provide Consumer Refunds To The Tune of 32.5 Million For Alleged Charges for Children's Mobile Apps Without Proper Parental Consent

Apple Inc. has agreed to provide full refunds to consumers, paying a minimum of $32.5 million, to settle a Federal Trade Commission complaint that the company billed consumers for millions of dollars of charges incurred by children in kids’ mobile apps without their parents’ consent. Under the terms of the settlement with the FTC, Apple also will be required to change its billing practices to ensure that it has obtained express, informed consent from consumers before charging them for items sold in mobile apps. “This settlement is a victory for consumers harmed by Apple’s unfair billing, and a signal to the business community: whether you’re doing business in the mobile arena or the mall down the street, fundamental consumer protections apply,” said FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez. ...

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Burford Capital Releases Survey of External and Internal Counsels re Alternative Litigation Financing (ALF)

The visibility and acceptance of ALF continues to grow. http://www.burfordcapital.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/2013-SURVEY-REPORT-FINAL-2014-01-14....

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Attacking the Victim: Let's Not Forget That Copyright Holders Have Rights Too!

Citing Congressional testimony today before the House Judiciary Committee from both David Nimmer and Glynn Lunney, the EFF takes another opportunity to trash the entire statutory damages regime under the U.S. Copyright Act. Have there been some isolated high-profile abuses? No question. But the fact remains that statutory damages exist for very good reasons.  Because it may be difficult for the copyright holder to prove actual damages (think of a young and new struggling artist, who still has precious little in the way of sales to support her case for actual damages in the infringement of her copyrighted works) they should have the ability to elect to seek the range of damages specified under the Act. Too often as well, the debate has been framed with the use of the proverbial "straw...

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Senator Leahy reintroduces Data Privacy Legislation

Leahy first authored and sponsored the Personal Data Privacy and Security Act in 2005, and he has reintroduced the legislation in each of the last four Congresses. The bill would establish a national standard for data breach notification, and require American businesses that collect and store consumers’ sensitive personal information to safeguard that information from cyber threats.  Leahy’s bill introduction on Wednesday comes just weeks after the department store chain, Target, suffered a major data security breach involving 40 million credit and debit cards used to pay for purchases at its stores during the busy holiday buying season. http://www.leahy.senate.gov/press/leahy-reintroduces-data-privacy-legislat...

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Court Overturns FCC Rules Regarding Net Neutrality

Could a regime where internet access to popular websites be governed paywalls? Given the centrality of this issue, it seems almost certain that this will go to the U.S. Supreme Court http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2014/01/14/court-strikes-down-fccs-net-neutrality-ru...

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Who Would Have Known: SAC Defendant Was In Fact Expelled From Harvard Law in 1999 for Falsifying Transcripts

http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2014/01/09/sac-defendant-was-booted-from-harvard-law-a-look-at-the-detai...

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