New York State Department of Financial Services Superintendent Adrienne A. Harris today announced that PayPal, Inc. (PayPal) will pay a $2 million penalty to New York State for violations of DFS’s Cybersecurity Regulation. An investigation determined PayPal failed to use qualified personnel to manage key cybersecurity functions and failed to provide adequate training to address cybersecurity risks. These failures led to sensitive customer information, including social security numbers (SSNs), being left unredacted and easily accessible to cybercriminals.
Today’s podcast episode is a repurposing of Alan Kaplinsky’s “fireside chat” with Kathy Kraninger, the Director of the CFPB during the second half of President Trump’s presidency from December 2018 until January 2021. (This was originally the first half of a webinar we did on January 6, 2025 which was entitled “The Impact of the Election on the CFPB – Supervision and Enforcement.” The January 6 webinar is Part 2 of a 3-part series.
As part of a flurry of last minute regulatory activity by the Biden administration’s Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau), on January 15, the CFPB published an advisory opinion in the Federal Register rescinding a previous advisory opinion which the Bureau issued during the first Trump administration in November 2020. The 2020 advisory opinion had described how a specific type of “earned wage” product did not constitute the offering or extension of “credit” under the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) and Regulation Z. The new advisory opinion is effective immediately.
States need to have and use data privacy laws to bring privacy violations to light and hold companies accountable for them. So, we were glad to see that the Texas Attorney General’s Office has filed its first lawsuit under Texas Data Privacy and Security Act (TDPSA) to take the Allstate Corporation to task for sharing driver location and other driving data without telling customers.
My husband and I had the opportunity to meet Wayne Fontes, when he was still coaching the Detroit Lions. As you might imagine, many football fans lined up for the opportunity—probably 100 deep. When it was finally my husband’s turn, he didn’t go with the typical “nice to meet you” or “I’m a big fan” approach. Instead, he looked Fontes squarely in the eyes and said, “If the Detroit Lions don’t go to a Super Bowl in my lifetime, I’m holding you personally responsible.”