NOTIFICATION OF UNAUTHORIZED ACQUISITION OF PRIVATE INFORMATION; DATA SECURITY PROTECTIONS
(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.
2. Any person or business which [conducts business in New York state, and which] owns or licenses computerized data which includes private information shall disclose any breach of the security of the system following discovery or notification of the breach in the security of the system to any resident of New York state whose private information was, or is reasonably believed to have been, accessed or acquired by a person without valid authorization. The disclosure shall be made in the most expedient time possible and without unreasonable delay, consistent with the legitimate needs of law enforcement, as provided in subdivision four of this section, or any measures necessary to determine the scope of the breach and restore the [reasonable] integrity of the system.
(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:
(b) electronic notice, provided that the person to whom notice is required has expressly consented to receiving said notice in electronic form and a log of each such notification is kept by the person or business who notifies affected persons in such form; provided further, however, that in no case shall any person or business require a person to consent to accepting said notice in said form as a condition of establishing any business relationship or engaging in any transaction.
(c) telephone notification provided that a log of each such notification is kept by the person or business who notifies affected persons; or
(3) notification to major statewide media.
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.
7. Regardless of the method by which notice is provided, such notice shall include contact information for the person or business making the notification, the telephone numbers and websites of the relevant state and federal agencies that provide information regarding security breach response and identity theft prevention and protection information, and a description of the categories of information that were, or are reason ably believed to have been, accessed or acquired by a person without valid authorization, including specification of which of the elements of personal information and private information were, or are reasonably believed to have been, so accessed or acquired.
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.
2. Any state entity that owns or licenses computerized data that includes private information shall disclose any breach of the security of the system following discovery or notification of the breach in the security of the system to any resident of New York state whose private information was, or is reasonably believed to have been, accessed or acquired by a person without valid authorization. The disclosure shall be made in the most expedient time possible and without unreasonable delay, consistent with the legitimate needs of law enforcement, as provided in subdivision four of this section, or any measures necessary to determine the scope of the breach and restore the [reasonable] integrity of the data system. The state entity shall consult with the state office of information technology services to determine the scope of the breach and restoration measures. Within ninety days of the notice of the breach, the office of information technology services shall deliver a report on the scope of the breach and recommendations to restore and improve the security of the system to the state entity.
(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:
6. Regardless of the method by which notice is provided, such notice shall include contact information for the state entity making the notification, the telephone numbers and websites of the relevant state and federal agencies that provide information regarding security breach response and identity theft prevention and protection information and a description of the categories of information that were, or are reason ably believed to have been, accessed or acquired by a person without valid authorization, including specification of which of the elements of personal information and private information were, or are reasonably believed to have been, so accessed or acquired.
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.
10. Any entity listed in subparagraph two of paragraph (c) of subdivision one of this section shall adopt a notification policy no more than one hundred twenty days after the effective date of this section. Such entity may develop a notification policy which is consistent with this section or alternatively shall adopt a local law which is consistent with this section.
