New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) Clarifies Expectations for Third-Party Cybersecurity Risks Under its Cybersecurity Regulation, and Additional Amendments Go into Effect on November 1, 2025
On October 21, 2025, NYDFS, the New York State agency responsible for regulating financial services and products, issued an Industry Letter clarifying how “Covered Entities”[1] should manage cybersecurity risks arising from Third‑Party Service Providers (TPSPs) under the NYDFS Cybersecurity Regulation (23 NYCRR Part 500).
Van Buren in Action: Third Circuit Rejects Application of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) to Violations of Workplace Policies
On August 26, 2025, the Third Circuit issued an opinion in NRA Group, LLC v. Durenleau, limiting the application of the CFAA in the workplace. In a case of first impression for the Third Circuit, the Court specifically held that employees with legitimate access to company systems did not violate the CFAA by violating their employer’s computer-use policies absent any “evidence of code-based hacking.” Applying the Supreme Court’s Van Buren v. United States “gates-up-or-down” framework, the Third Circuit interpreted “without authorization” and “exceeds authorized access” under the CFAA narrowly – focusing on actual access prohibitions and restrictions. The ruling thus shields workplace computer-use policy violations by current employees, such as password sharing or improper data use, from CFAA liability (both civil and criminal) and steers employers toward other legal remedies.
Action Items for U.S. Public Companies for 2025
Rapid rulemaking and aggressive enforcement by the SEC, combined with legislative, judicial, and regulatory developments, have created new requirements and expectations for U.S. public companies.
FTC Proposes Significant and Sweeping Changes to COPPA and Requests Public Comment
On January 11, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) published its Notice of Proposed Rule Making (“NPRM”) seeking to update the FTC’s Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”) Rule in the Federal Register. Among other things, the proposed changes would require more granular privacy notices, require fairly detailed identification of, and parental consent to, third-party data sharing (including targeted advertising), expand the scope of personal information subject to COPPA, make it easier for parents to provide consent via text message, clarify various requirements around EdTech, including school authorization for parental consent, and impose significant new programmatic information security and data retention requirements.
Latest Wave of SEC Off-Channel Communications Enforcement Actions: Five Takeaways
On September 29, 2023 — the last business day of its fiscal year — the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued the latest in a series of actions charging 10 firms with recordkeeping failures in connection with employees’ use of unapproved applications on personal devices to engage in communications relating to the firms’ business (known as “off-channel communications”).1 The firms charged included broker-dealers, investment advisers, and dually registered broker-dealers and investment advisers as well as one family of firms that self-reported conduct to the SEC. To date, the SEC has charged over 40 registrants and leveled over $1.6 billion in penalties as part of its off-channel communications matters. Other regulators, including the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), have brought similar cases.
New FTC Guidance for Mobile Health Apps
Healthcare providers, health plans, and technology companies that use mobile health apps to access, collect, share, use, or maintain information related to an individual’s health should take note of the recently issued Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Mobile Health App Interactive Tool. The purpose of the tool is to help mobile health developers determine the federal regulatory, privacy, and security laws and regulations that may apply to the use of a consumer’s health information, such as information related to diagnosis, treatment, fitness, wellness, or addiction. While the tool should not be considered legal advice and cannot guarantee compliance with legal requirements, it can help healthcare providers, health plans, and technology companies issue-spot to manage risk in this heavily regulated space.
NY DFS Proposes New Class of Entities and More Detailed Regulations in Second Amendment to Cybersecurity Regulations
On November 9, 2022, the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) published its proposed second amendment to its cybersecurity regulations (23 NY CRR Part 500). This proposal follows a July 29 pre-proposal and comment period. The amendment is available for a sixty-day comment period – until January 9, 2023 – after which the agency may adopt final regulations or issue a further revised version.
CFPB Begins Rulemaking on Data Access and Portability
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) on October 27, 2022 took the long-anticipated first step to issue a regulation implementing Section 1033 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. This followed a preview by CFPB Director Rohit Chopra at the Money 20/20 conference on October 25 in which he outlined the “CFPB’s new approach to regulation,” which is designed to create “catalysts for more competition.” With respect to Section 1033, Director Chopra said that the CFPB is “exploring safeguards to prevent excessive control or monopolization by one, or even a handful of, firms” and will be working toward avoiding regulations that could be “rigged in favor of some players over others.” Director Chopra’s focus on competition as an essential element of consumer protection has been a hallmark of his directorship.
HHS Office for Civil Rights Releases Webinar on Recognized Security Practices: Provides Guidance on Mitigating Potential Violations of HIPAA
Pursuant to legislation passed in 2021, covered entities and business associates subject to HIPAA and facing potential regulatory enforcement may receive some credit lessening to reduce enforcement penalties if they had implemented Recognized Security Practices (RSPs) within the prior 12 months. However, what may constitute RSPs and how a covered entity or business associate can demonstrate implementation of RSPs to receive such credit had not been clear. Now, the Department of Health and Human Services is seeking to provide clarity. (more…)