Photo of Jena M. Valdetero

Jena M. Valdetero serves as Co-Chair of the firm’s U.S. Data, Privacy and Cybersecurity Practice where she advises clients on complex data privacy and security issues. She has led more than 1,000 data breach investigations. A litigator by background, Jena defends companies against privacy and data breach litigation, with an emphasis on class action lawsuits. She has designed and conducted dozens of data breach tabletop exercises to empower clients to respond effectively to a data security incident. She also counsels companies on data privacy and security compliance programs and advises on privacy and cyber risks associated with mergers and acquisitions, venture capital, and securities. Jena also advises a diverse array of clients on compliance with existing and emerging privacy laws, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), the Gramm Leach Bliley Act (GLBA), and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). She is a certified privacy professional through the International Association of Privacy Professionals (CIPP/US), for which she is a former KnowledgeNet Co-Chair.

On Oct. 22, 2024, the SEC announced settled administrative actions against four current or formerly public technology companies, finding that the companies all made materially misleading disclosures to investors in their periodic filings concerning the impact of the 2020 SolarWinds breach on their businesses. 

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On Aug. 2, 2024, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed SB 2979 into law, amending BIPA in two ways: significantly limiting potential damages and updating the Act’s definition of “written release” to include an “electronic signature.”

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A U.S. district court dismissed all the SEC’s securities fraud and false filings claims against SolarWinds and its Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) Timothy Brown regarding the adequacy of cyberattack disclosures, finding that the SEC had impermissibly relied on “hindsight and speculation” to find those disclosures fraudulent. The court also dismissed the SEC’s claims that

On May 16, 2024, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission finalized amendments to Regulation S-P (the Amendments) that largely adopt the proposed amendments the SEC issued in 2023. As discussed in further detail below, the Amendments will require broker-dealers, investment companies, SEC-registered investment advisers, funding portals, and transfer agents registered with the SEC or other

On May 21, 2024, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Director of the Division of Corporation Finance Erik Gerding issued a statement clarifying when the SEC expects companies to disclose a cyber incident. This clarification helps guide public companies who wish to disclose a cyber incident but who have not yet determined if the incident is

Since the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Cybersecurity Incident Disclosure Rule (SEC Rule) took effect Dec. 18, 2023, about a dozen companies have filed a Form 8-K reporting a material cybersecurity incident. This GT Alert discusses the trends on how companies have made these disclosures thus far. In short, the companies who have filed an 8-K

  1. Cybersecurity Rules by the SEC and the EU – Both the Security and Exchange Commission’s public company cybersecurity disclosure and breach notification rules as well as the implementation of the EU NIS 2 Directive will drive increased focus from management and the board on cybersecurity risks, preventive measures, and incident response. Expect to see another

As detailed in our July 2023 GT Alert, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) now requires public companies to file a Form 8-K and disclose a material cybersecurity incident within four days of determining the incident’s materiality. Form 8-K Item 1.05(c) includes an exception to the four-day requirement: where disclosure poses a substantial risk

On Oct. 27, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) amended its Standards for Safeguarding Customer Information (the Safeguards Rule), promulgated under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA), to require financial institutions to provide notice to the FTC of data breaches that impact 500 or more consumers (the Amendment). This comes after the FTC’s major update to the