Nearly every business, organization, or person that interacts with digital data is at risk of a cybersecurity incident, data privacy breach, and privacy program. Burr & Forman’s Cybersecurity & Data Privacy Team works with clients of all sizes ranging from municipalities to businesses of all types. Some industries, like the financial, health care, and manufacturing industries, face specific issues as noted below. For more information about the issues facing your industry, please contact your Burr attorney.
Financial
For the financial services industry, security concerns permeate all aspects of business, from operations to marketing to workforce management. Increased government regulation, rapidly advancing technology and growing consumer demand for anytime/anywhere access create outsized challenges for today’s systems managers and security professionals. Indeed, cybersecurity tops the list of concerns for both IT professionals and C-suite executives.
In today’s digital economy, keeping deposits under lock and key will no longer suffice.
Burr & Forman has a long history of representing banks. We know the financial services sector. We understand risk and what its implications are for banks, credit unions, brokerages, insurers, and individuals and businesses seeking to safeguard their assets. Also, as technology evolves, like e-signatures, and as updated rules and regulations are released by the SEC, FINRA, FTC, FDIC, UCC, and others, our team is there to help our clients navigate the issues.
Burr & Forman helps financial institutions create cost-effective cybersecurity strategies that reduce risk and mitigate damages should a breach occur. Our attorneys have represented dozens of clients in relevant practice areas, such as consumer finance litigation and compliance, data breach response, information security policies, commercial and corporate litigation, finance, and blockchain, cryptocurrency and electronic transactions. The knowledge gained from those experiences informs our cybersecurity practice. More importantly, we’ve created a robust practice area through collaboration and by developing tailored solutions that fit clients’ very individual needs and objectives.
Health Care
Few industries are as vulnerable to cybersecurity risk as the health care sector. Large scale information automation, digitally based diagnostic and treatment procedures, increased provider and patient access demands and an ever-tightening regulatory landscape mean today’s health care administrators are faced with daunting challenges when designing and implementing cybersecurity strategies.
For health care entities, HIPAA mandates create additional layers of obligations beyond typical IT cybersecurity requirements.
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act fundamentally changed how providers, hospitals, insurers and their vendors accessed and handled sensitive patient information. Simultaneously, the digital revolution made accessing data easier than any other time in history. While these two developments have contributed greatly to the overall quality of patient care, they’ve created potentially disastrous scenarios for IT professionals, security experts, compliance officers and billing administrators.
HIPAA compliance has created a thriving sub-industry.
Burr & Forman’s Cybersecurity & Data Privacy team understands the vastness of these challenges. Our attorneys have represented hospitals, physician groups, insurers, benefits administrators and health service vendors since the early 1900s. We’ve closely studied HIPAA since its passing in 1996 and have led numerous cases and data breach responses across the country related to its myriad rules and far-reaching regulatory and protected health information (PHI) reporting requirements.
Burr & Forman guides businesses through the often confusing legal and regulatory landscape of health care. We’re well-versed in creative solutions that protect and promote your company’s best interests.
Manufacturing
Manufacturing in the United States is a far cry from the noisy plant floors and crowded machinery rooms of the past. Today, manufacturers rely heavily on data and digital systems to meet increasingly stringent consumer demands. Supply chain management, real-time inventory control, automated assembly, research and development, and workforce management all depend on secure equipment and networks to maximize efficiencies. Today, access to information is widely considered a competitive advantage.
However, companies face an unprecedented level of risk meeting production goals. Safeguarding information, whether it’s employee data, trade secrets, financial projections or systems control signals is crucial.
Downtime equals financial loss.
Burr & Forman’s Cybersecurity & Data Privacy team represents a wide range of manufacturers in diverse sectors. We understand the necessity of data for manufacturers and help guide our clients from risk analysis and prevention to threat recognition, incident response and recovery, keeping in mind the balance between operations and privacy obligations. We help identify cybersecurity vulnerabilities, whether they’re in access, reporting, employee training, technology stacks or insurance coverage. We assist with employee and consumer privacy protections and disclosures. We also assist with the review and negotation of vendor contracts to ensure compliance with privacy laws, appropriate security procedures, and audit rights. We advise on cybersecurity and privacy controls in the context of business transactions, such as mergers, acquisitions, asset sales, and the like.
Our collaborative, business-forward approach can help boost production by reducing time lost to cyberattacks and data breaches. We can recommend comprehensive reviews of existing cybersecurity and privacy strategies and help implement advanced measures, such as hacker penetration tests, to ensure the security and privacy of your systems.