Consumers Affected
99,097
Marymount Manhattan College suffered a data breach in 2021 affecting 99,097 New Yorkers. The New York Attorney General found that MMC failed to secure its network infrastructure and update security policies. As part of the agreement, MMC must invest $3.5 million over six years to improve data encryption, enable multi-factor authentication, and implement other security measures.
MMC is required to invest $3.5 million over six years to maintain a comprehensive information security program, encrypt all personal information, perform security updates and patch management, enable multi-factor authentication, scan for vulnerabilities, and publicly share its data collection and deletion plan.
In-house legal teams should review all agreements involving the handling of student, faculty, and alumni personal data, including vendor contracts, data processing agreements, and third-party service provider agreements. Specific clauses to scrutinize are data security requirements, encryption standards, multi-factor authentication mandates, breach notification procedures, and data retention/deletion schedules. Given the findings of inadequate security policies and unencrypted sensitive data, contracts may need amendments to mandate specific technical controls (e.g., enforced MFA, encryption of SSNs and financial data), require regular security policy reviews and firmware updates, and clarify procedures for ransomware incidents and data disposal.
Entity
Marymount Manhattan College
Industry
EducationOfficial Press Release
https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2023/attorney-general-james-reaches-agreement-marymount-manhattan-college-invest-35
marymount manhattan college aod
https://ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/settlements-agreements/marymount-manhattan-college-aod.pdf
New York Attorney General Enforcement Page
https://ag.ny.gov/press-releases
"Marymount Manhattan College (MMC)"
"MMC failed to adequately safeguard personal information, including failing to use multi-factor authentication for accounts, not encrypting sensitive data, and failing to update both their security policies and firmware in response to new security threats."
"99,097 New Yorkers"
$17.1B
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$3.3M
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$400K
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$3.3M
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