How can a data security breach affect you? What are the Laws in Massachusetts About Identity Theft? What's a business to do?

Have you seen our link to the Massachusetts Laws About Identity Theft?

Within this page is the link to the Code of Massachusetts Regulations and the “Standards for the Protection of Personal Information of Residents of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts”.

 The Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulations has a Frequently Asked Questions page about 201 CMR 17.

The Office of the Attorney General has regulations requiring businesses to Safeguard Personal Information.

201 CMR 16 discusses the Placing, Lifting and Removal of Security Freezes for the benefit of the consumer.

Has your business taken the appropriate precautions to prevent a data security breach?

In an April 23, 2012 Press Release, the Office of the Consumer Affairs and Business Regulations reported that as of September 30, 2011, their office had received over 1,800 breach notices affecting 3,166,031 people.

The Attorney General’s Office has a Guide to Identity Theft for Victims and Consumers.

Want to read more about this topic? Here’s the link to our catalog.

Can’t get to the Law Library but have a patron card? Use this link to the Hein Online database to read law journal articles on the subject.

Don’t have a library card yet? Here are some other articles you might find interesting:

• Hirsch Roberts Weinstein LLP’s blog: The Data Security Chain Must Get Stronger by March 1, 2012.

• Encryption: A Key Component of Information Security.

• Federal Trade Commission’s BCP Business Center with Links to Various Types of Data Security.

• Fighting Identity Theft with the Red Flags Rule: A How-To Guide for Business.

• Regulations’ Impact on Data Breach Costs, Analyzing Latest Ponemon/Symantec Cost of Data Breach Study by Eric Chabrow as of June 11, 2013.

Source: MCLE Fundamentals of Data Security Law, c. 2013.