Last week, the Israeli Parliament (the Knesset) promulgated the
Protection of Privacy Regulations (Data Security), 5777-2017 (the
"Regulations"). This marks the consummation of a
legislative process that began in 2010 with the Israeli Law,
Information and Technology Authority (ILITA, the Israeli privacy
regulator), when the first draft of the Regulations was published
for public comment.
The Regulations introduce a far reaching reform to the existing
information security regulations which date back to 1986 and have
become ill-suited for our technology era. Among other issues, the
new Regulations introduce an overarching data breach notification
requirement for the first time in Israel. Such requirements are
common in many other jurisdictions. In the United States, for
instance, breach notifications have led to a wave of class action
suits against data handlers whose databases were breached.
