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FTC settles with technology service provider on data security issues

Federal Issues FTC Settlement Privacy/Cyber Risk & Data Security Data Breach Enforcement FTC Act

Federal Issues

On November 12, the FTC announced a proposed settlement, which requires a technology service provider to implement a comprehensive data security program to resolve allegations of security failures, which allegedly allowed a hacker to access the sensitive personal information of about one million consumers. According to the complaint, the FTC asserts that the service provider and its former CEO violated the FTC Act by engaging in unreasonable data security practices, including failing to (i) have a systematic process for inventorying and deleting consumers’ sensitive personal information that was no longer necessary to store on its network; (ii) adequately assess the cybersecurity risk posed to consumers’ personal information stored on its network by performing adequate code review of its software and penetration testing; (iii) detect malicious file uploads by implementing protections such as adequate input validation; (iv) adequately limit the locations to which third parties could upload unknown files on its network and segment the network to ensure that one client’s distributors could not access another client’s data on the network; and (v) implement safeguards to detect abnormal activity and/or cybersecurity events. The FTC further alleges in its complaint that the provider could have addressed each of the failures described above “by implementing readily available and relatively low-cost security measures.”

The FTC alleges more particularly that, between May 2014 and March 2016, an unauthorized intruder accessed the service provider’s server over 20 times, and in March 2016, “accessed personal information of approximately one million consumers, including: full names; physical addresses; email addresses; telephone numbers; SSNs; distributor user IDs and passwords; and admin IDs and passwords.” Because the information obtained can be used to commit identity theft and fraud, the FTC alleged that the service provider’s failure to implement reasonable security measures violated the FTC’s prohibition against unfair practices.

The proposed settlement requires the service provider to, among other things, create certain records and obtain third-party assessments of its information security program every two years for the 20 years following the issuance of the related order that would result from the settlement.