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Last week, Snap Inc. (“Snap” or the “Company”) – the parent company of the wildly popular app Snapchat (“Snapchat” or the “App”) – became a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange in the biggest tech IPO since Alibaba in 2014.  Priced at $17 per share, the Snap stock opened at $24 per share on Thursday morning and closed at $24.48 per share, bringing the Company’s market capitalization to approximately $28 billion. In today’s post, we’re taking a closer look at Snap’s S-1 filing (“Snap S-1”) with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) with a particular focus on the Company’s disclosures of risk factors associated with cybersecurity and privacy risks.  Continue Reading A Deep Dive into Privacy/Security Disclosures in Snap’s S-1

Five Things You (and Your M&A Diligence Team) Should Know

Recently it was announced that Verizon would pay $350 million less than it had been prepared to pay previously for Yahoo as a result of data breaches that affected over 1.5 billion users, pending Yahoo shareholder approval. Verizon Chief Executive Lowell McAdam led the negotiations for the price reduction.  Yahoo took two years, until September of 2016, to disclose a 2014 data breach that Yahoo has said affected at least 500 million users, while Verizon Communications was in the process of acquiring Yahoo.  In December of 2016, Yahoo further disclosed that it had recently discovered a breach of around 1 billion Yahoo user accounts that likely took place in 2013.

While some may be thinking that the $350 million price reduction has effectively settled the matter, unfortunately, this is far from the case. These data breaches will likely continue to cost both Verizon and Yahoo for years to come.  Merger and acquisition events that are complicated by pre-existing data breaches will likely face at least four categories of on-going liabilities.  The cost of each of these events will be difficult to estimate during the deal process, even if the breach event is disclosed during initial diligence.

Continue Reading Data Breaches Will Cost Yahoo and Verizon Long After Sale

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is investigating whether Yahoo! should have reported the two massive data breaches it experienced earlier to investors, according to individuals with knowledge.  The SEC will probably question Yahoo as to why it took two years, until September of 2016, to disclose a 2014 data breach that Yahoo has said affected at least 500 million users.  The September 2016 disclosure came to light while Verizon Communications was in the process of acquiring Yahoo.  As of now, Yahoo has not confirmed publically the reason for the two year gap.  In December of 2016, Yahoo also disclosed that it had recently discovered a breach of around 1 billion Yahoo user accounts.  As Yahoo appears to have disclosed that breach near in time to discovery, commentators believe that it is less likely that the SEC will be less concerned with it.

After a company discovers that it has experienced an adverse cyber incidents, it faces a potentially Faustian choice: attempt to remediate the issue quietly and avoid reputational harm, or disclose it publically in a way that complies with SEC guidance, knowing that public knowledge could reduce public confidence in the company’s business and could even prove to be the impetus for additional litigation.

Part of the issue may be that while the SEC has various different mechanisms to compel publically traded companies to disclose relevant adverse cyber events, including its 2011 guidance, exactly what and when companies are required to disclose has been seen as vague.  Commentators have argued that companies may have a legitimate interest in delaying disclosure of significant adverse cyber incidents to give law enforcement and cyber security personnel a chance to investigate, and that disclosing too soon would hamper those efforts, putting affected individuals at more risk.

Even so, many see the two year gap period between Yahoo’s 2014 breach and its September 2016 disclosure as a potential vehicle for the SEC to clarify its guidance, due to the unusually long time period and large number of compromised accounts. As a result of its investigation, it is possible that the SEC could release further direction for companies as to what constitutes justifiable reasons for delaying disclosure, as well as acceptable periods of delay.  As cybersecurity is one of the SEC’s 2017 Examination Priorities, at a minimum, companies should expect the SEC to increase enforcement of its existing cybersecurity guidance and corresponding mechanisms.  Whatever the SEC decides during its investigation of Yahoo, implementing a comprehensive Cybersecurity Risk Management program will help keep companies out of this quagmire to begin with.

If you have any questions regarding compliance with SEC cyber incident guidance, please do not hesitate to contact the team at Mintz Levin.

It’s a new year, and time for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA)’s annual Regulatory and Examination Priorities Letter (the “2017 Letter”)    We remind regulated entities of this list of examination priorities every year, because cybersecurity appears high on the list every year.  2017 is no exception.

The 2017 Letter

FINRA has been increasing its on-site examinations and enhanced risk-based surveillance “to apply a nationally consistent approach to identify and focus on material conduct at firms…”   Among the operational risks listed in the 2017 Letter, Cybersecurity is listed first, and according to FINRA, “remain[s] one of the most significant risks many firms face, and in 2017, FINRA will continue to assess firms’ programs to mitigate those risks.”

Firms should be prepared for FINRA reviews of methods for preventing data loss, including understanding of data (e.g., its degree of sensitivity and the locations where it is stored), and its flow through the firm, and possibly to vendors.  FINRA may assess controls firms use to monitor and protect this data, for example, through data loss prevention tools. In some instances, FINRA has been known to review how firms manage their vendor relationships, including the controls to manage those relationships, and this line of examination is expected to continue.  Importantly, the 2017 Letter recognizes the nature of the “insider threat” and expresses FINRA’s intent to inquire into what controls firms have in place to acknowledge and manage that “insider threat”.    According to the 2007 Letter:  “The nature of the insider threat itself is rapidly changing as the workforce evolves to include more employees who are mobile, trusted external partnerships and vendors, internal and external contractors, as well as offshore resources.”

The WORM Actions

As if to emphasize the seriousness of the inquiries, FINRA issued a series of Letters of Consent at the end of December, levying fines totaling $14 million against 12 firms, and discussed the record-keeping requirements at the core of the December regulatory actions in its 2017 Letter.

Specifically, Securities & Exchange Commission and FINRA rules require member firms to maintain certain electronic records in a non-erasable, non-rewritable format, known by the acronym WORM, for  “Write Once, Read Many”.  This format prevents the alteration or destruction of records stored electronically.

in its press release, FINRA explained that WORM format requirements were essential to FINRA’s investigative duties. FINRA noted how the volume of sensitive financial data stored electronically by members had risen exponentially in the past decade. This increase in the amount of sensitive information stored by FINRA members coincides with increasingly aggressive attempts to hack into electronic data repositories. “These disciplinary actions are a result of FINRA’s focus on ensuring that firms maintain accurate, complete and adequately protected electronic records. Ensuring the integrity of these records is critical to the investor protection function because they are a primary means by which regulators examine for misconduct in the securities industry.

FINRA found that the each of the 12 fined firms failed to follow required document retention regulations in various ways outlined in the Letters of Consent.

Brad Bennett, FINRA’s current chief of enforcement, will be stepping down shortly.  #MLWashingtonCyberWatch will be keeping an eye on what, if any, changes may come with the new administration in 2017. Only time will tell whether FINRA will continue its aggressive enforcement actions or if we will see a softening of FINRA’s actions.   Regardless of the regulatory inquiries, firms should continue to take actions to improve cybersecurity resilience and investor protection.   For a quick review of the FINRA Report on Cybersecurity Practices, check out our webinar recording.

SECThe 2016 lists are starting to be released by regulatory agencies in the United States, giving a heads’ up to covered entities as to what compliance issues will take front and center this year.  Once again, the Office of Compliance Inspection (OCIE) of the US Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) has put cybersecurity on the top of its examination priorities.  OCIE is responsible for conducting examinations of the entities required to be registered under various SEC regulations, including broker-dealers, transfer agents, investment advisers, and investment companies.

Continue Reading Cybersecurity Tops SEC Office of Compliance Inspections 2016 Examination Priorities