This act shall be known and may be cited as the "Stop Hacks and Improve Electronic Data Security Act (SHIELD Act)".
1. As used in this section, the following terms shall have the following meanings:
(a) "Personal information" shall mean any information concerning a natural person which, because of name, number, personal mark, or other identifier, can be used to identify such natural person;
(b) "Private information" shall mean either:
(c) "Breach of the security of the system" shall mean unauthorized access to or acquisition of, or access to or acquisition without valid authorization, of computerized data that compromises the security, confidentiality, or integrity of [personal] private information maintained by a business. Good faith access to, or acquisition of [personal], private information by an employee or agent of the business for the purposes of the business is not a breach of the security of the system, provided that the private information is not used or subject to unauthorized disclosure.
(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.
(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:
3. Any person or business which maintains computerized data which includes private information which such person or business does not own shall notify the owner or licensee of the information of any breach of the security of the system immediately following discovery, if the private information was, or is reasonably believed to have been, accessed or acquired by a person without valid authorization.
5. The notice required by this section shall be directly provided to the affected persons by one of the following methods:
(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.
(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:
(1) e-mail notice when such business has an e-mail address for the subject persons, except if the breached information includes an e-mail address in combination with a password or security question and answer that would permit access to the online account, in which case the person or business shall instead provide clear and conspicuous notice delivered to the consumer online when the consumer is connected to the online account from an internet protocol address or from an online location which the person or business knows the consumer customarily uses to access the online account;
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.
(b) the remedies provided by this section shall be in addition to any other lawful remedy available.
(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.
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.
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.
(b) In the event that more than five thousand New York residents are to be notified at one time, the person or business shall also notify consumer reporting agencies as to the timing, content and distribution of the notices and approximate number of 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.
(a) "Compliant regulated entity" shall mean any person or business that is subject to, and in compliance with, any of the following data security requirements:
(b) "Private information" shall have the same meaning as defined in section eight hundred ninety-nine-aa of this article.
(c) "Small business" shall mean any person or business with
(a) Any person or business that owns or licenses computerized data which includes private information of a resident of New York shall develop, implement and maintain reasonable safeguards to protect the security, confidentiality and integrity of the private information including, but not limited to, disposal of data.
(b) A person or business shall be deemed to be in compliance with paragraph (a) of this subdivision if it either:
(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.
(e) Nothing in this section shall create a private right of action.
(a) "Private information" shall mean either:
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.
(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:
3. Any state entity that maintains computerized data that includes private information which such agency does not own shall notify the owner or licensee of the information of any breach of the security of the system immediately following discovery, if the private information was, or is reasonably believed to have been, accessed or acquired by a person without valid authorization.
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.
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.
(b) In the event that more than five thousand New York residents are to be notified at one time, the state entity shall also notify consumer reporting agencies as to the timing, content and distribution of the notices and approximate number of affected persons. Such notice shall be made without delaying notice to affected New York residents.
8. The state office of information technology services shall develop, update and provide regular training to all state entities relating to best practices for the prevention of a breach of the security of the system.
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.
This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have become a law; provided, however, that section four of this act shall take effect on the two hundred fortieth day after it shall have become a law.
