Database Hacks - Are Banks Required To Notify You?Written by Richard A. Chapo
Ever wonder if banks are required to tell customers when their systems are hacked? You may be shocked to learn that they are not. The only exception to this standard has been database hacks that effect California residents. Companies doing business in California are required to give such notice under California Security Breach Information Act. The situation is changing quickly on federal level. Regulations have been issued by federal finance agencies that now force banks to tell customers when their personal data has been exposed to unauthorized third parties. The regulations are issued pursuant to Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which contains language requiring financial institutions to prevent unauthorized access and use of consumer information. The new regulations appear to be a reaction to several recent high-profile data leaks. They include incidents such as Bank of America losing data tapes containing information for over 1 million government employees and breach of databases for LexisNexis and ChoicePoint. It is well known that numerous other banks have also been hacked over years, but information has been hushed up. The new regulations require financial institutions to notify account holders if institution becomes aware of unauthorized access to sensitive customer information. The directives apply to banks and savings and loan companies, but not credit unions.
| | Getting Legal Help for an Asbestos Related InjuryWritten by MesotheliomaFirms.com
Asbestos is a material that was widely used in a range of everyday items up until late 1970s and early 1980s. Millions of people were exposed to this material on a daily basis, but those exposed to highest levels were people that worked with asbestos in one form or another. The risks concerning asbestos related injury are now more widely recognized; however, in past people that worked with asbestos were oblivious to dangers of this substance. It is thought, however, that many of companies and manufacturers linked to asbestos were aware of dangers from as early as 1920s, and that they continued to let people suffer asbestos related injuries by allowing them to work with asbestos without necessary protection or warnings. Asbestos is now linked with a range of injuries and diseases. Some asbestos related injuries that can be sustained through unprotected exposure to this material include: pleural effusion, pleural plaques, rounded atelectasis, asbestosis, and pleural thickening. But perhaps most worrying - and deadliest - effect of exposure to asbestos is mesothelioma. Malignant mesothelioma is a form of cancer that can start in lungs, abdomen, or cavities around heart. This cancer can reduce victim's lifespan to a matter of months, and can result directly from exposure to asbestos. One unique thing about this particular asbestos related injury is that it can take a very long time for sufferer to realize that he or she has been affected. Mesothelioma has a latency period of several decades, which means that it could take thirty years or more for symptoms to manifest. Those suffering from asbestos related injury are entitled to claim for compensation. However, because of long latency period associated with mesothelioma, some people assume that they will not be able to get compensation because, after all these years, they have no idea where or when they may have been exposed to asbestos.
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