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Shawn Tuma Opines on Proposed Whitehouse Cybersecurity Strategy with WIRED

March 28, 2023

Spencer Fane attorney Shawn Tuma spoke with WIRED reporter Lily Hay Newman in response to the recent National Cybersecurity Strategy unveiled by the White House in early March.

The article, The High-Stakes Blame Game in the White House Cybersecurity Plan, focused on the document’s call to shift legal liability onto big companies that “fail to take reasonable precautions to secure their software.” Shawn identified defining what’s reasonable as a challenge the proposal and others like it must address.

“We all see the extremes in the continuum — we see the providers that are doing a poor job, that are just throwing stuff out there,” Shawn said. “I’m fine for liability on them, but what about those that are trying to do their best but are engaged in an unwinnable war with well-resourced hackers? What’s ‘reasonable’?”

Shawn also noted potential “strings attached” the insurance industry could face if the proposed federal backstop for cybersecurity insurance comes to pass.

At Spencer Fane, Shawn helps businesses protect their information and protect themselves from their information. He represents a wide range of clients, from small to midsize companies to Fortune 100 companies, across the United States and globally in dealing with cybersecurity, data privacy, data breach and incident response, regulatory compliance, computer fraud-related legal issues, and cyber-related litigation.

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