There were nearly 4,000 publicly disclosed data breaches in the first half of 2019.
Over 4 billion records were compromised.
Business of all sizes accounted for 67% of those breaches and 85% of the compromised records. *
2019 was not a great year for data security. Unfortunately, it only seems to be on the rise as businesses are assessing their level of cybersecurity protection for their sensitive data records. However, the government has stepped in to ensure that when data businesses of a certain magnitude are breached, the proper cybersecurity steps and awareness are in place.
Thus, the Texas House Bill 4390 was instituted, also known as Texas HB 4390.
What is the Texas HB 4390 bill?
The Texas HB 4390 bill was created as a revision to the Texas Identity Theft Enforcement and Protection Act as well as the Texas Business and Commerce Code, which states:
“Any person who conducts business in Texas and has computerized data that includes sensitive personal information shall disclose any breach of the system’s security to any individual whose sensitive personal information was or is thought to have been acquired by an unauthorized person.”
What this means is beginning on January 1st, 2020, any business of any size must report to the Texas Attorney General of any data breach that involves at least 250 residents of the state of Texas. The report must contain:
- A detailed explanation of the circumstances of the breach and the use of any sensitive information that was acquired as a result of the breach
- How many residents of the state were affected by the breach as of the time of the notification
- What remediation measures have been taken and are in the intention of processing
- Information on whether law enforcement is involved with the data breach
Per the Texas HB 4390 requirements, all this information must be delivered to the Texas Attorney General within 60 days of the effective date of the incident and will be presented to the Texas Privacy Protection Advisory Council, which will consist of 15 individuals. These inducted members will consist of five members of the House of Representatives, five senators, and five members of data industries including data analytics, telecommunications, and ISP industries.
For the full details on how the Texas HB 4390 bill works, visit its page on capitol.texas.gov.
So, what is the real solution?
Since majority of data breaches occur due to human error, security awareness is your most valuable asset in protecting your data. Ensuring that your employees are trained to keep vigilance on suspicious links within emails and staying alert for online threats is more crucial than ever.
Now that you are aware of what will the Texas HB 4390 bill will require should you suffer from a data breach under these conditions, the next step is to prepare yourselves and your workstations. The deadline is coming up soon so there’s no time to waste.
neoRhino’s Remote Managed Services package includes 24/7 online protection of your workstations as well as our Cybersecurity Awareness Training service, which provides in-depth training sessions to keep your employees alert and in the know.
Contact us or give us a call at (281) 779-4850 for a FREE IT Assessment and neoRhino will manage your technology so you can manage your business.
* According to the 2019 MidYear QuickView Data Breach Report, August 20, 2019.
