“Ransomware is the kind of thing where you can go to bed the night before, lay your head down on your pillow, have your organization doing great, and you wake up in the morning to have everything shut down and your whole world changed. That’s a huge impact. And it’s not just a technical aspect of going through that incident response. But there is also an emotional side.”
Shawn Tuma – Co-Chair, Data Privacy & Cybersecurity Practice, Spencer Fane, LLP
Source: Secure World
About Shawn Tuma:
Shawn Tuma 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.
Having practiced in this area of law since 1999, Shawn is widely recognized in cybersecurity and data privacy law. He is frequently sought out and hired by other lawyers and law firms to advise them when these issues arise in cases for their own clients.
While this area of the law has evolved greatly in the nearly 20 years while Shawn has been practicing, he continues to evolve with it as a practitioner representing his clients, academically as an author and instructor, and as an analyst for the national media.
Shawn’s practice covers three distinct areas:
- Cyber Risk Management – Proactively helping companies assess and understand their overall cyber risk and then developing, implementing, and maturing a strategic cyber risk management program that prioritizes their efforts to help minimize their cyber risk and meet regulatory compliance requirements.
- Cyber Incident Response – Leading companies through the cyber incident response and data breach response process (e.g., as a “breach guide” or “breach quarterback”), crisis management, and regulatory compliance investigations and enforcement actions (e.g., by regulators such as various states’ Attorneys General, Department of Health and Human Services / Office of Civil Rights (HHS/OCR), Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Tuma serves as a breach guide for insurance companies’ panel of approved counsel.
- Cyber Security, Hacking, and Data Breach Litigation – Representing clients in litigation involving cyber-related claims like computer and data misuse, computer hacking, data loss, data theft, and business-to-business disputes concerning responsibility for cyber incidents.
Shawn’s ideal role is to serve as a member of a company’s risk management team as outside cybersecurity counsel to help the company proactively prepare for and minimize its risks of doing business in today’s digital business world. Then, if a problem does arise, he is there to guide the company through resolving those issues as well.
