Cybersecurity

The EU e-evidence Regulation and Directive, which establish a regime for law enforcement authorities (“LEAs”) in one Member State to issue legally-binding demands for data from certain types of providers established in other Member States, will come into effect on 18 August 2026 (our post on the specific requirements of the Regulation and Directive is available here). On 28 July 2025, the European Commission adopted an Implementing Regulation (“IR”) setting out the technical specifications for the decentralized communications system that LEAs and covered service providers must use when, among other things, issuing and responding to European Production Orders (“EPOs”) and European Preservation Orders (“EPrOs”) under the e-evidence Regulation.

Continue Reading European Commission adopts technical standards for the decentralized communication system to be used under the forthcoming e-evidence Regulation

In a new post on the Covington Inside Privacy blog, our colleagues provide an overview of the Federal Trade Commission’s (“FTC”) $45 million settlement with online lead generator MediaAlpha, Inc. and its subsidiary QuoteLab, LLC (collectively, “MediaAlpha”), resolving allegations that the companies, among other things, tricked consumers into sharing sensitive

Continue Reading FTC Takes Aim at Online Lead Generator

This update highlights key mid-year legislative and regulatory developments and builds on our first quarter update related to artificial intelligence (“AI”), connected and automated vehicles (“CAVs”), Internet of Things (“IoT”), and cryptocurrencies and blockchain developments.

I. Federal AI Legislative Developments

In the first session of the 119th Congress, lawmakers rejected a proposed moratorium on state and local enforcement of AI laws and advanced several AI legislative proposals focused on deepfake-related harms.  Specifically, on July 1, after weeks of negotiations, the Senate voted 99-1 to strike a proposed 10-year moratorium on state and local enforcement of AI laws from the budget reconciliation package, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R. 1), which President Trump signed into law.  The vote to strike the moratorium follows the collapse of an agreement on revised language that would have shortened the moratorium to 5 years and allowed states to enforce “generally applicable laws,” including child online safety, digital replica, and CSAM laws, that do not have an “undue or disproportionate effect” on AI.  Congress could technically still consider the moratorium during this session, but the chances of that happening are low based on both the political atmosphere and the lack of a must-pass legislative vehicle in which it could be included.  See our blog post on this topic for more information.

Additionally, lawmakers continue to focus legislation on deepfakes and intimate imagery.  For example, on May 19, President Trump signed the Tools to Address Known Exploitation by Immobilizing Technological Deepfakes on Websites and Networks (“TAKE IT DOWN”) Act (H.R. 633 / S. 146) into law, which requires online platforms to establish a notice and takedown process for nonconsensual intimate visual depictions, including certain depictions created using AI.  See our blog post on this topic for more information.  Meanwhile, members of Congress continued to pursue additional legislation to address deepfake-related harms, such as the STOP CSAM Act of 2025 (S. 1829 / H.R. 3921) and the Disrupt Explicit Forged Images And Non-Consensual Edits (“DEFIANCE”) Act (H.R. 3562 / S. 1837).

Continue Reading U.S. Tech Legislative & Regulatory Update – 2025 Mid-Year Update

In a recently announced settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”), Illumina, Inc. (“Illumina”) agreed to pay $9.8 million to resolve claims arising from alleged cybersecurity vulnerabilities in genomic sequencing systems that the company sold to federal agencies.  The case is the latest in a series of False Claims Act (“FCA”) settlements under the current administration that evidence DOJ’s continued focus on cybersecurity obligations for government contractors, particularly those that maintain sensitive data and personal information on behalf of federal customers.

Continue Reading Latest Cybersecurity False Claims Act Settlement with Diagnostics Provider Focuses on Sensitive Health Systems

Oklahoma recently enacted Senate Bill 626, which substantially amends the state’s data breach notification law to broaden the scope of notification obligations and add a new regulator notification requirement along with a new “safe harbor”-style provision that provides liability protections if certain security measures are implemented.  The changes to Oklahoma’s law follow changes to other state data breach notification laws within the past year, including New York’s addition of a 30-day deadline for notice to individuals (added in early 2025) and Pennsylvania’s addition of a regulator notification requirement and obligations to provide free credit monitoring (added in mid-2024).  Key updates from Oklahoma’s bill, which will go into effect on January 1, 2026, are discussed in further detail below.

Continue Reading Oklahoma Substantially Amends Its Data Breach Notification Statute

On July 14, 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) and General Services Administration (GSA) announced a $14.75 million settlement of Civil False Claims Act allegations against IT company Hill ASC Inc. (Hill).  This settlement is consistent with the current Administration’s focus on “fraud, waste, and abuse” in government procurement and the recent DoJ FCA initiative focused on cybersecurity fraud.  This also follows the Department’s Criminal Division announcement of corporate procurement fraud as an enforcement priority.

The government alleged that between 2018 and 2023 Hill provided information technology services to federal agencies through the GSA’s Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) program.  The settlement resolved allegations that: (i) Hill billed federal agencies for information technology personnel who lacked the experience and/or education required under the contract; (ii) Hill had not passed GSA’s required technical evaluations for contractors who sought to offer highly adaptive cybersecurity services to government customers; (iii) Hill submitted claims for cybersecurity services and other services that were not within the scope of the contract; and (iv) Hill charged the government for unapproved fees, failed to provide government customers with required information about discounts for prompt payment, and included unallowable incentive compensation in a cost submission in connection with a new contract proposal (which the settlement agreement acknowledges that Hill withdrew before any contract based on the proposal was awarded.)

To settle these allegations, Hill agreed to pay $14.75 million “plus additional amounts if certain financial contingencies occur.”  The settlement imposes additional financial requirements including that Hill pay the United States 2.5% of its annual gross revenue that exceeds $18,800,000.00 from January 1, 2026 to December 31, 2029 (named the “Revenue Contingency Period”).  It appears that the amount of damages initially sought by the government was higher because DoJ noted that the settlement amount was based on “the company’s ability to pay.” 

Continue Reading Recent Cybersecurity FCA Settlement Demonstrates Heightened FCA Risk to Government Contractors

On July 23, the White House released its AI Action Plan, outlining the key priorities of the Trump Administration’s AI policy agenda.  In parallel, President Trump signed three AI executive orders directing the Executive Branch to implement the AI Action Plan’s policies on “Preventing Woke AI in

Continue Reading Trump Administration Issues AI Action Plan and Series of AI Executive Orders

On 14 July 2025, the European Commission published its final guidelines on the protection of minors under the Digital Services Act (“DSA”) (the “Guidelines”). The Guidelines are intended to provide guidance to providers of online platforms that are “accessible to minors” on meeting their obligations to “put in place appropriate and proportionate measures to ensure a high level of privacy, safety, and security of minors, on their service” (DSA, Art. 28(1)).

The European Commission published a draft version of the guidelines for consultation on 13 May 2025 (“Draft Guidelines”) (see our blog post here). The final Guidelines include some amendments to the Draft Guidelines on the basis of the feedback received during consultation, clarifying and building out further the recommended measures.

Although the Guidelines are non-binding, the Commission has made clear that it intends to use the Guidelines as a “significant and meaningful” benchmark when assessing in-scope providers’ compliance with Article 28(1) DSA.

Continue Reading European Commission Makes New Announcements on the Protection of Minors Under the Digital Services Act

This is the fifth blog in a series of Covington blogs on cybersecurity policies, executive orders (“EOs”), and other actions of the Trump Administration.  The fourth blog is available here and our initial blog is available here.  This blog describes key cybersecurity developments that took place in June 2025. 

White House Issues New Cybersecurity Executive Order

On June 6, President Trump issued an Executive Order (“Sustaining Select Efforts to Strengthen the Nation’s Cybersecurity and Amending Executive Order 13694 and Executive Order 14144”) (the Order) that modifies certain initiatives in prior Executive Orders issued by Presidents Obama and Biden and highlights key cybersecurity priorities for the current Administration.  We wrote about the Order in additional detail here.

At a high level, the Order: (i) directs that existing federal government regulations and policy be revised to focus on securing third-party software supply chains, quantum cryptography, artificial intelligence, and Internet of Things (IoT) devices; and (ii) more expressly focuses cybersecurity-related sanctions authorities on “foreign” persons.  Although the Order makes certain changes to prior cybersecurity related Executive Orders issued under previous administrations, it generally leaves the framework of those Executive Orders in place.  For example, the Order removes certain requirements relating to the form of attestations (i.e., removing the requirement for machine readable format), as well as the directive for centralized validation of software attestations by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA).  Likewise, the associated directive to the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council to amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation to incorporate those requirements has also been eliminated.  However, the Order appears to leave the core program in place.  Further, it does not appear to modify other cybersecurity Executive Orders beyond those specified.  To that end, although the Order highlights some areas where the Trump administration has taken a different approach than prior administrations, it also signals a more general alignment between administrations on core cybersecurity principles. 

Continue Reading June 2025 Cybersecurity Developments Under the Trump Administration

On June 30, 2025, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Department of Defense Cyber Crime Center (DC3), and the National Security Agency (NSA) warned U.S. critical infrastructure organizations and other companies that the threat of cyber attacks from Iran-affiliated cyber actors is heightened

Continue Reading U.S. Government Issues Cybersecurity Warning to Critical Infrastructure Operators and Others