(d) "Consumer reporting agency" shall mean any person which, for monetary fees, dues, or on a cooperative nonprofit basis, regularly engages in whole or in part in the practice of assembling or evaluating consumer credit information or other information on consumers for the purpose of furnishing consumer reports to third parties, and which uses any means or facility of interstate commerce for the purpose of preparing or furnishing consumer reports. A list of consumer reporting agencies shall be compiled by the state attorney general and furnished upon request to any person or business required to make a notification under subdivision two of this section.
(a) Notice to affected persons under this section is not required if the exposure of private information was an inadvertent disclosure by persons authorized to access private information, and the person or business reasonably determines such exposure will not likely result in misuse of such information, or financial harm to the affected persons or emotional harm in the case of unknown disclosure of online credentials as found in subparagraph (ii) of paragraph (b) of subdivision one of this section. Such a determination must be documented in writing and maintained for at least five years. If the incident affects over five hundred residents of New York, the person or business shall provide the written determination to the state attorney general within ten days after the determination.
(b) If notice of the breach of the security of the system is made to affected persons pursuant to the breach notification requirements under any of the following laws, nothing in this section shall require any additional notice to those affected persons, but notice still shall be provided to the state attorney general, the department of state and the division of state police pursuant to paragraph (a) of subdivision eight of this section and to consumer reporting agencies pursuant to paragraph (b) of subdivision eight of this section:
(d) substitute notice, if a business demonstrates to the state attorney general that the cost of providing notice would exceed two hundred fifty thousand dollars, or that the affected class of subject persons to be notified exceeds five hundred thousand, or such business does not have sufficient contact information. Substitute notice shall consist of all of the following:
6. (a) whenever the attorney general shall believe from evidence satisfactory to him or her that there is a violation of this article he or she may bring an action in the name and on behalf of the people of the state of New York, in a court of justice having jurisdiction to issue an injunction, to enjoin and restrain the continuation of such violation. In such action, preliminary relief may be granted under article sixty-three of the civil practice law and rules. In such action the court may award damages for actual costs or losses incurred by a person entitled to notice pursuant to this article, if notification was not provided to such person pursuant to this article, including consequential financial losses. Whenever the court shall determine in such action that a person or business violated this article knowingly or recklessly, the court may impose a civil penalty of the greater of five thousand dollars or up to [ten] twenty dollars per instance of failed notification, provided that the latter amount shall not exceed one] two hundred fifty thousand dollars.
(c) no action may be brought under the provisions of this section unless such action is commenced within [two] three years [immediately] after either the date [of the act complained of or the date of discovery of such act] on which the attorney general became aware of the violation, or the date of notice sent pursuant to paragraph (a) of subdivision eight of this section, whichever occurs first. In no event shall an action be brought after six years from the date of discovery of the breach of private information by the company unless the company took steps to hide the breach.
8. (a) In the event that any New York residents are to be notified, the person or business shall notify the state attorney general, the department of state and the division of state police as to the timing, content and distribution of the notices and approximate number of affected persons and shall provide a copy of the template of the notice sent to affected persons. Such notice shall be made without delaying notice to affected New York residents.
9. Any covered entity required to provide notification of a breach, including breach of information that is not "private information" as defined in paragraph (b) of subdivision one of this section, to the secretary of health and human services pursuant to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 or the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act, as amended from time to time, shall provide such notification to the state attorney general within five business days of notifying the secretary.
(d) Any person or business that fails to comply with this subdivision shall be deemed to have violated section three hundred forty-nine of this chapter, and the attorney general may bring an action in the name and on behalf of the people of the state of New York to enjoin such violations and to obtain civil penalties under section three hundred fifty-d of this chapter.
(a) Notice to affected persons under this section is not required if the exposure of private information was an inadvertent disclosure by persons authorized to access private information, and the state entity reasonably determines such exposure will not likely result in misuse of such information, or financial or emotional harm to the affected persons. Such a determination must be documented in writing and maintained for at least five years. If the incident affected over five hundred residents of New York, the state entity shall provide the written determination to the state attorney general within ten days after the determination.
(b) If notice of the breach of the security of the system is made to affected persons pursuant to the breach notification requirements under any of the following laws, nothing in this section shall require any additional notice to those affected persons, but notice still shall be provided to the state attorney general, the department of state and the office of information technology services pursuant to paragraph (a) of subdivision seven of this section and to consumer reporting agencies pursuant to paragraph (b) of subdivision seven of this section:
7. (a) In the event that any New York residents are to be notified, the state entity shall notify the state attorney general, the department of state and the state office of information technology services as to the timing, content and distribution of the notices and approximate number of affected persons and provide a copy of the template of the notice sent to affected persons. Such notice shall be made without delaying notice to affected New York residents.
9. Any covered entity required to provide notification of a breach, including breach of information that is not "private information" as defined in paragraph (a) of subdivision one of this section, to the secretary of health and human services pursuant to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 or the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act, as amended from time to time, shall provide such notification to the state attorney general within five business days of notifying the secretary.
