WilmerHale Partners Benjamin Powell and Jason Chipman were contributing editors to the seventh edition of Getting the Deal Through: Cybersecurity 2021. Getting the Deal Through provides an international analysis in key areas of law, practice and regulation for corporate counsel, cross-border practitioners, and company directors and officers. In this year’s edition, key questions are answered by practitioners at many of the world’s leading law firms. Powell and Chipman both provided insights to the Global Overview and the United States chapter.

Excerpt: Global Overview
Around the globe, data about individuals, businesses and strategically significant technology is increasingly stored in digital formats. As a result, cyberthreats are growing and cybersecurity is an increasingly significant compliance and regulatory issue for private companies and governments. Some cyber threats are well known – hackers backed by nation states, commercial competitors, company insiders, transnational organised crime syndicates and 'hacktivists' have continued to grow on a global basis over the past year.

Excerpt: United States
The United States generally addresses cybersecurity through sector-specific statutes, regulations and private industry requirements. At the federal level, numerous agencies impose cybersecurity standards through a variety of regulatory and enforcement mechanisms. For example, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) (and implementing regulations and agency guidance) require entities in the financial services and health sectors, respectively, to employ technical, administrative and physical safeguards to protect customer information from unauthorised access or use.