Penalty Amount
$4,500,000
Consumers Affected
2,400,000
New York Attorney General Letitia James, along with the Attorneys General of Connecticut and New Jersey, settled with Enzo Biochem, Inc. for $4.5 million over a 2023 ransomware attack that exposed health and personal data of 2.4 million patients, including 1.4 million New York residents. The investigation found Enzo had inadequate data security practices, including shared employee login credentials, lack of multi-factor authentication, no suspicious activity monitoring, and unencrypted personal information. As part of the settlement, Enzo will pay the penalty and implement enhanced cybersecurity measures including MFA, encryption, risk assessments, and an incident response plan.
Enzo must pay a total $4.5 million penalty, with $2.8 million allocated to New York and the remainder to Connecticut and New Jersey. Enzo is required to implement and maintain a comprehensive information security program including: access controls for personal information, multi-factor authentication for all user accounts, strong password policies with regular rotation, encryption of all personal information at rest and in transit, annual documented risk assessments, and a comprehensive incident response plan.
In-house legal teams should review all vendor agreements with healthcare and biotechnology service providers, particularly those handling personal or health information, to ensure they include mandatory multi-factor authentication, data encryption (both at rest and in transit), and robust access controls. Contracts should require vendors to conduct annual risk assessments, maintain comprehensive information security programs, and have documented incident response plans. Additionally, agreements should mandate strong password policies with regular rotation, and specify breach notification timelines and requirements. For vendors handling health data, ensure compliance with applicable health data security standards is explicitly required.
Entity
Enzo Biochem, Inc.
Also known as: Enzo Biochem
Industry
HealthcareOfficial Press Release
https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2024/attorney-general-james-secures-45-million-biotech-company-failing-protect-new
enzo biochem aod 2024
https://ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/settlements-agreements/enzo-biochem-aod-2024.pdf
New York Attorney General Enforcement Page
https://ag.ny.gov/press-releases
"Enzo Biochem, Inc. (Enzo)"
"Enzo has agreed to pay a $4.5 million penalty"
"August 13, 2024"
"New York Attorney General Letitia James"
"As a result of today’s agreement, Enzo has agreed to pay a $4.5 million penalty"
"the OAG found that Enzo had poor data security practices, which led to a ransomware attack that compromised the personal and private information of approximately 2.4 million patients"
$4.5M
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, along with New York and New Jersey attorneys general, secured a $4.5 million settlement from Enzo Biochem, Inc. for failing to protect patient health data, resulting in a ransomware attack that compromised 2.4 million patients' information. Enzo must pay the fine and implement enhanced cybersecurity measures including multi-factor authentication and annual risk assessments.
$4.5M
Enzo Biochem, Inc. agreed to pay $4.5 million and strengthen its cybersecurity practices to settle allegations that deficient data security led to a ransomware attack exposing the health data of 2.4 million patients. The multistate enforcement action was led by New Jersey with New York and Connecticut.
$17.1B
Attorney General James and a bipartisan coalition of 50 other attorneys general secured a landmark settlement with Meta Platforms, Inc. (Meta) worth up to $17.1 billion to address the company's harmful and addictive features targeting minors on Facebook and Instagram. The settlement requires Meta to implement significant changes, including age verification, time limits for minors, restrictions on notifications, and options to opt out of algorithmic feeds, along with monetary payments to states for mental health and education programs.
$3.3M
New York Attorney General Letitia James announced a multistate settlement with Cal-Maine Foods, Versova/Centrum, and Hickman's Egg Ranch for illegally coordinating to influence a daily price index for eggs, artificially inflating prices for retailers and consumers nationwide. The companies will deliver 53 million eggs to food banks across 17 participating states, pay a combined $3.3 million, and adopt compliance measures to prevent future violations.
$2.0M
New York Attorney General Letitia James, along with four other states and the FTC, settled with Zillow and Redfin after they entered an illegal agreement to stop competing in the multifamily rental advertising market. Zillow paid Redfin $100 million to shut down its advertising business and exclusively display Zillow's listings. The settlement requires the companies to resume competing and pay $2 million.
$400K
New York Attorney General Letitia James secured $400,000 from Thirty Madison, Inc., an online medication provider, for misleading consumers about auto-renewing subscriptions and making cancellation difficult. The company failed to clearly disclose subscription terms and non-refundable fees, and required multiple steps to cancel. The settlement requires payment, refunds to eligible subscribers, and changes to subscription practices.