CYBERSECURITY

Joint Advisory Warns of Iran Cyber Actors Attacking U.S. Critical Infrastructure

Iran has always been a formidable cyber threat to the United States, but after the war in Iran commenced, the attacks are coming frequently and in full force. According to the Joint Cybersecurity Advisory issued on April 7, 2026, by the FBI, CISA, NSA, EPA, DOE, and Cyber Command, Iranian-based hackers are targeting operational technology devices connected to the internet, including programmable logic controllers (PLC). The Advisory notes that the PLC disruptions have been seen “across several U.S. critical infrastructure sectors through malicious interactions with the project file and manipulation of data…resulting in operational disruption and financial loss.” Read more

Water Treatment Facility Downed with Ransomware Attack

Critical infrastructure operators at the water treatment plant in Minot, North Dakota, were forced to resort to manual processes when its Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system became inoperable as a result of a March 14, 2026 ransomware attack. The attackers are unidentified, but it comes in the wake of the war in Iran, and both Iran and China are known to lead cyber-attacks against water utilities, which often have vulnerabilities that make them easy targets. Read more

Winona County Victim of Cyber-Attack

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz issued an emergency executive order on April 7, 2026, dispatching the Minnesota National Guard after Winona County requested assistance following a cyber-attack disrupting its “critical systems and digital services.” The attack occurred on April 6, 2026, and is “significantly impairing the county’s ability to deliver vital emergency and municipal services.”

The attackers are currently unknown, but it is further evidence of the increased threat of cyber-attacks following the war in Iran, which is the subject of a Joint Advisory issued by federal government agencies warning government agencies and critical infrastructure to prepare and prevent cyber-attacks during the war in Iran. Read more

ENFORCEMENT + LITIGATION

Not Every Wiretap Claim Belongs in Federal Court: Federal Court Sends Pennsylvania Case Back to State Court

While California’s wiretapping statute, the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA), tends to dominate the conversation about the recent rise in wiretapping litigation, plaintiffs are also turning to other states’ wiretapping laws to target web tracking and session-replay tools. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit recently held that a website visitor could not pursue a Pennsylvania wiretapping claim in federal court because she did not allege a concrete enough injury to satisfy Article III of the U.S. Constitution. Read more

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Vetting AI for Government: California’s Executive Order Sets New Expectations

California Governor Gavin Newsom issued a new executive order aimed at tightening California’s procurement rules for artificial intelligence (AI) vendors and “raising the bar” for companies that want to sell AI tools to the state. The administration says the goal is to ensure contractors meet strong standards and can demonstrate responsible policies that prevent misuse, while protecting users’ safety and privacy. The announcement also frames California’s approach as a contrast to recent federal contracting “missteps,” emphasizing that AI adopted by the state should not enable bad actors to exploit data, undermine security, or violate civil rights. Read more

Privacy Tip #486

“Stolen Credentials Are a Major Threat”

According to Security Week’s recent article, “Stolen Logins Are Fueling Everything from Ransomware to Nation-State Cyberattacks,” cybersecurity firm Ontinue’s 2H 2025 Threat Intelligence Report, showcases that “Attackers aren’t breaking in anymore, they’re logging in.”

According to Ontinue’s Report, in the second half of 2025, “identity became the primary attack surface.” This means that users were providing legitimate logins to attackers, giving them access to systems undetected by cybersecurity measures implemented by the organization. Once in, they are nearly impossible to detect, and can move throughout the system, and access data in the same manner as the legitimate user. As a result, they can access intellectual property, personal information, proprietary information, and sensitive information over long periods of time.

Learn about the risks of compromised credentals in this week’s Privacy Tip. Read more

RECENT EVENTS AND NEWS

Robinson+Cole Integrates Thomson Reuters’ Deep Research into Newcode.ai Platform to Advance Secure, Verifiable Legal Research

Robinson+Cole has expanded its firmwide artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities by integrating Thomson Reuters’ Deep Research directly into Newcode.ai, the agentic AI platform implemented last year by the firm to support legal workflows across practices. With this integration, Robinson+Cole is one of only two law firms with direct access to the Deep Research API—and the only firm deploying it through Newcode.ai. Building on its 2025 partnership with Newcode.ai —making Robinson+Cole the first Am Law 200 firm to adopt the platform—the firm has continued to expand its AI capabilities as part of a broader strategy focused on secure deployment, ethical use, and seamless integration into daily legal work.

The integration enables Robinson+Cole attorneys to conduct complex, multi‑step legal research and receive verifiable, citation‑backed responses grounded in trusted Thomson Reuters content. By embedding Deep Research into Newcode.ai, Robinson+Cole continues to build on its deliberate, governance‑first approach to AI adoption while delivering meaningful, practice‑ready innovation for its lawyers and clients. Read more in the press release.