Cybersecurity 2017 – The Year In Preview: Changes Afoot In Federal Enforcement?

Editor's note: This is the sixth and last in our end-of-year series. See our previous posts on trade secrets, state regulation and law enforcement, HIPAA compliance, emerging threats, and energy. See you in 2017!

Fragmentation in U.S. data privacy and cybersecurity law is both peril and promise. The peril? Businesses must contend with uncertainty and the costs associated with pleasing many regulatory masters. The promise? Various regulatory bodies can compete for the most effective way of approaching cybersecurity, setting a path forward for others to emulate.

At the federal level, the primary enforcement actor has been, for some time, the Federal Trade Commission. Indeed, since the Third Circuit's decision in FTC v. Wyndham, the FTC's authority in this space has been largely affirmed (and generally unquestioned). Other federal agencies have also started to more forcefully enter the cybersecurity enforcement arena, including the Securities and Exchange Commission,