WIRED – Aug 24 – For companies like Ashley Madison or health insurer Anthem, financial loss, customer anger and professional embarrassment aren't the only consequences of getting massively gutted by hackers. A U.S. appellate court ruled that the FTC has the authority to sue Wyndham Hotels for allowing hackers to steal more than 600K customers' data from its computer systems in 2008 and 2009, leading to more than $10 million in fraudulent charges. The ruling more widely cements the agency's power to regulate and fine firms that lose consumer data to hackers, if the companies engaged in what the FTC deems "unfair" or "deceptive" business practices.
by Andy Greenberg
See full article at Wired