Technology, Data Security Rank High Among List of CLO Concerns
A new ACC study found that data breaches, information governance and technology were among the biggest issues CLOs anticipate dealing with in the next 12 months.
February 08, 2018 at 11:21 AM
4 minute read
|
A 2018 survey of chief legal officers conducted by the Association of Corporate Counsel found that three of the biggest concerns for chief legal officers relate to technology and data security.
Seventy percent of those polled said that potential data breaches would be an extremely or very important topic over the next year, and 68 percent said the same of information governance more broadly. An additional 59 percent said that technology developments more generally would be important in the next year.
“Everything seems to be about technology these days,” Amar Sarwal, CLO for the ACC, told LTN.
Sarwal explained that in-house counsel are increasingly pressed to develop a better general understanding of technology and data to do the core functions of their jobs. “I think you're finding that lawyers have to bone up a lot more on how the tech world works,” he said. “Just being able to navigate all that and understand where all the weak points are when you haven't necessarily had a lot of experience in that is certainly an important thing for our age.”
The ACC survey also highlighted a new reality for CLOs around breach of corporate data. The survey found that 27 percent of those polled had experienced a data breach in the past two years, a figure that jumped 4 percentage points since last year's survey.
The data shows that this bump in data breaches comes from a few specific places. Forty-one percent of Australian and New Zealand-based CLOs experienced a data breach in the last two years, 14 percent more than the average CLO. Similarly, CLOs in the education and retail sectors experienced much higher proportions of data breaches, with 45 and 41 percent of CLOs in those industries respectively reporting data breaches.
Although data breaches have been a source of concern for general counsel for a few years now, changes in the threat landscape have also shifted the calculus for companies and CLOs. Not only are breaches far more pervasive than they ever have been—cybersecurity news website DarkReading logged a record-breaking 5,207 company data breaches in 2017—but those cyber incidents can now have a much broader scope. DarkReading also found that just five large company data breaches were responsible for over 72 percent of all data records exposed last year.
These trends, Sarwal noted, have produced a sense of panic among companies that CLOs now have to navigate. “The natural dynamic, then, is to be very controlling from the top,” he said, adding that company leaders tend to want to impose strict controls on lower-tier workers to clamp down on data security risks.
“The problem is that doesn't work very well,” Sarwal noted. Many of these control policies and technologies can make it difficult to work efficiently, and younger workers tend to recoil at the idea of having to operate under such strict controls.
“There's this really awful dynamic there. There are these policies and apps, etc., that burden the efficiency of the enterprise. The corporate offices and head offices need to step back and see how can we help the bigger picture,” Sarwal said.
A lot of this same risk can instead be managed by ensuring that company employees are appropriately trained and experienced in secure data practices, and that they have some technological guardrails around them to keep data under control, Sarwal said. “If you're a modern professional worker, this a core habit you need to learn.”
Even so, there's only so much at this point CLOs can really do to prevent data breaches altogether. “You can't eliminate it. You can limit the risk,” Sarwal said.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View AllTrending Stories
- 1Decision of the Day: Judge Reduces $287M Jury Verdict Against Harley-Davidson in Wrongful Death Suit
- 2Kirkland to Covington: 2024's International Chart Toppers and Award Winners
- 3Decision of the Day: Judge Denies Summary Judgment Motions in Suit by Runner Injured in Brooklyn Bridge Park
- 4KISS, Profit Motive and Foreign Currency Contracts
- 512 Days of … Web Analytics
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250