Brandon Large Discusses Maine Data Breach Reports with Privacy Daily

Privacy Daily interviewed Shook Associate Brandon Large in the article “Lawyer Applauds Maine's Fast Response to False Data Breach Reports But Raises Validation Concerns.” In June, the office of the Maine Attorney General was forced to pull its reporting portal offline after multiple fake disclosures ended up on the website. 

The breach notification portal is a public intake system. If an organization suffers a breach that affects Maine residents, it can submit its notification through this portal. Once submitted, the Attorney General’s office reviews the notice and publishes it. However, fraudulent claims ended up on the platform and soon after the Maine AG office confirmed the reports, saying the fakes were submitted through the state’s reporting system.

“This is the first time we know of that there has been a fake report sent to an AG office that was then published,” said Large in an interview. “This speaks to the idea that transparency has real value, particularly in the eyes of attorneys general. But speed doesn't really always capture that objective, which is why validating those breach response reports from companies can be needed.”