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    Jun. 4, 2025

Saddling Up for Montana’s Broad Privacy Law Update

In May, Montana’s Legislature introduced the broadest state privacy law amendment enacted this year. It is the first state to impose its requirements for protecting minors on all companies, regardless of size, and the fourth state to apply its privacy law to regulated financial companies. State officials made multiple changes that signal seriousness about enforcing the privacy law, including hiking penalties and boosting multiple requirements to the strictest standard among states. Enforcement starts this October. This article discusses the amendment’s top impacts, highlights open questions, and provides practical analysis and concrete considerations for companies, with insights from experts at BakerHostetler, Ballard Spahr; Bass, Berry & Sims; Business Software Alliance; and Miller Nash. See “Connecticut AG’s Report Reveals Privacy Enforcers Reaching Deeper Into Their State Laws” (Apr. 30, 2025).

Strengthening Cyber Defenses in an Ever-Evolving Threat Landscape

Cyber threats continue to evolve rapidly and, despite some reports to the contrary, there has been no let-up in ransomware and other cybercrime, according to the speakers at Cybersecurity Docket’s 2025 Incident Response Forum Masterclass. This article discusses evolving cyber threats, improving defenses against those threats, strengthening cyber governance and risk management, and the cyber regulatory and enforcement landscape. It distills the insights offered during the presentation by experts from Alston & Bird, Cybereason, Latham & Watkins, Mullen Coughlin and Norton Rose Fulbright. See “Examining the Cyber Threat Landscape Dominated by Stealth Attacks” (Mar. 20, 2024).

How Designating TCOs As Terrorist Organizations Creates Risks for Financial Institutions and Beyond

While U.S. law enforcement has long targeted cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), a recent executive order (TCO EO) has opened a new front in this fight. The TCO EO authorizes the designation of international narcotics cartels and other TCOs as Foreign Terrorist Organizations, which could escalate pressure on businesses, financial institutions, and cryptocurrency exchanges and issuers to know their customers. In this guest article, Boies Schiller partners Dan Boyle and John Kucera explain how the TCO EO is expected to alter the landscape of seizure and forfeiture not only for cartels and TCOs, but for businesses and financial institutions across the Latin American region. See “Reference Guide to 2025 Executive Orders for Compliance Professionals” (Apr. 9, 2025).

Kelley Drye Welcomes Former California Privacy Enforcement Attorney in Los Angeles

Céline Guillou, a former senior attorney in the Enforcement Division of the California Privacy Protection Agency, has joined Kelley Drye & Warren’s Los Angeles office as special counsel in the firm’s privacy and information security and state attorneys general practices. For insights from the firm, see “Compliance Takeaways From the CPPA’s Enforcement Action Against Honda” (Apr. 30, 2025), and “Data Clean Rooms and De-Identified Data Are Among Concerns in Navigating State Privacy Laws” (Apr. 9, 2025).

Former FBI Special Agent and Cybersecurity Executive Joins Dinsmore in Cincinnati

Herbert Stapleton has joined Dinsmore & Shohl as a partner in the firm’s corporate group in Cincinnati. He arrives from the FBI, where he served as Special Agent in Charge of the Indianapolis Field Office. For insights from Dinsmore, see “Six Steps for Improving Cloud Security From CSRB’s Report on Microsoft Intrusion” (Jun. 12, 2024).

Most-Read Articles

Women to Watch: Contributions, Achievements and Observations of Outstanding Female Professionals

To mark International Women’s Day, women editors and reporters at ION Analytics interviewed outstanding women in the industries and jurisdictions we cover. In this part, Law Report Group editors Jill Abitbol, Robin L. Barton and Megan Zwiebel profile notable women in data privacy, cybersecurity, private funds and anti-corruption law, including Anne-Gabrielle Haie, Jessica Lee, Micaela McMurrough, Laura Perkins, Amanda Raad, Madelyn Calabrese, Ranah Esmaili and Genna Garver. Enjoy reading their inspiring remarks here.

Celebrating Data Privacy Day 2025

Read the full brief here.

Cybersecurity Awareness Month

Read the full brief here.