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With No Police Exemption, SEC Data Breach Rules Shaking Up Retail

Written by Mark Rasch
February 15th, 2012
In almost all U.S. state and federal data breach disclosure laws, a loophole lets a retailer avoid disclosure if law enforcement says it would help the investigation to keep the breach secret. The U.S. SEC, however, now has no such exemption.

This means that if the Secret Service or FBI tells a chain to keep an incident secret or else risk disrupting an active investigation, a company that complies—and keeps word of the breach out of SEC filings—may be guilty of SEC fraud, pens Legal Columnist Mark Rasch. In this federal agency versus federal/state agency situation, the retailer victim may be victimized again.

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Posted in IT Strategy/Industry, Payment Systems, Premium Content, Security/Fraud
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