Researchers at a cybersecurity firm, UpGuard, recently discovered that the Australian market analysis firm, Tetrad, left data for 120 million individuals publicly exposed in Amazon storage. This was not a traditional breach situation, rather this leak was a result of a ‘misconfiguration’ which allowed anyone with a browser to access and download certain files. The exposed data came from various retail clients of Tetrad and included sensitive details such as names, addresses and purchasing habits.
 
Organizations that collect data on a large scale must ensure that they have proper data retention policies and procedures in place to safeguard against the risk of a data breach (or data leak, as was the case here). This case also shows that your data is only as safe as your weakest link and that business partners' mistakes could negate any policies or procedures of a company.
 
At MT>3 we provide advice and guidance on information governance solutions to best protect organizations and their clients. Get in touch with us to learn more. 

On February 10, 2020, the US Justice Department announced charges against four members of China’s military on suspicion of hacking into Equifax. Charges against members of the Chinese military are rare, but in this case an exception was made for state-sponsored actors who stole the personal data of approximately 145 million Americans.
 
This breach, in combination with a series of other breaches, has serious implications. Collectively, this data could be used to target American intelligence officers or other officials and interfere with elections. In addition, used in conjunction with artificial intelligence technology, this may allow China to advance its ability to conduct cyber espionage.
 
Although there is no evidence yet that the Chinese government has used the data from the Equifax hacking, Christopher Wray, the director of the FBI, commented that China has “pioneered an expansive approach to stealing innovation”. Hopefully these charges will be a powerful deterrent to this type of theft in the future.

MT>3 has returned from two days in New York at Legalweek. This year brought  great weather, many vendor presentations, and a surprisingly loud drumming band.  MT>3 had some fascinating meetings and we return energized from our discussions and hearing about the latest efforts to solve today’s legal problems using technology.
Some highlights to watch for in the coming year include:
1. Cross Matter Tools
Multiple companies are exploring new ways to help you leverage your existing knowledge for use in future cases. AI models are being developed to analyze results from past cases and applying those to similar cases that arise in the future. There are many potential applications for this technology, including:

• Proactively monitoring high risk behavior in fraud and competition matters
• Identifying PII and PHI to meet privacy requirements
• Predictive coding/identification of privileged and junk records

 2. Dealing with the data explosion
Discovery has evolved rapidly beyond e-mails, PDFs, and Office documents. Companies now work with multiple chat platforms, CRM tools, IoT data, audio/video and new data sources that are developing each day. The legal tech world is coming up with solutions to help capture, process, and effectively work with this data in litigation.
3. Contract Management
Many startups have emerged to assist with contract management and review. These companies look to reduce costs and financial risk both pre- and post-closing by:

• Automating tasks and workflows
• Identifying problem areas in contracts and providing suggested revisions
• Extracting key contractual commitments and deadlines

 All of this to say that we have much to share with our clients!  Please reach out for any details.