Elizabeth J. McEvoy, Member of the Firm in the Health Care & Life Sciences practice, in the firm’s Boston office, was quoted in Law360, in “DOJ Poised to Pounce on Data Security Violators,” by Phillip Bantz. (Read the full version – subscription required.)
Following is an excerpt:
Companies and individuals that are not yet in compliance with the U.S. Department of Justice's sweeping, complex new national data security program should expect to face probes and potentially enforcement actions sooner than later, experts say. …
The DOJ is looking for violations that are intentional or "willful," which can be a high standard for the government. But it might not be such a tall hurdle here because of the extensive guidance that has been issued on the program, according to some experts.
"The government has laid out the steps to compliance pretty clearly and that's going to make it more difficult for folks out of compliance to argue they were unaware or not knowingly violating this rule,” said Elizabeth McEvoy, a member of Epstein Becker Green who focuses on white collar and compliance matters.
"Delays in addressing noncompliance or ignoring noncompliance at the start is the type of evidence the government will come back for and try to use for willful violations down the road," she added.
McEvoy told Law360 she expected to start seeing government inquiries about potential program violations within "at least the next month."
