Megan Brown Discusses FTC’s Expansive Approach to Cybersecurity Enforcement

September 17, 2014

Megan L. Brown, a partner in Wiley Rein’s Communications, Litigation, and Appellate practices, was quoted yesterday in a Fedscoop article about the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) efforts to expand its authority to regulate cybersecurity practices in the private sector.

“The FTC has already signaled that it sees a broad role for itself in data and cybersecurity,” Ms. Brown told Fedscoop.  “The agency has been aggressively investigating and bringing cases, using an expansive approach to its legal authority.”  She added that recent, high-profile data breaches “provide the agency with more rhetorical ammunition as it stakes out its territory.”

“The agency seems content to let enforcement actions set general expectations for private industry,” Ms. Brown said.  “While this case-by-case approach tends to foster uncertainty about the adequacy of compliance measures, the private sector should expect more investigations and information requests, particularly in the aftermath of a high-profile incident.”

Click here to read the Fedscoop article.