On June 6, 2025, President Trump issued a new executive order, “Sustaining Select Efforts to Strengthen the Nation’s Cybersecurity and Amending Executive Order 13694 and Executive Order 14144” (EO), signaling the construction of a fortified cyber defense across federal operations. This directive updates the nation’s digital stronghold, modernizing risk management, defending against quantum…

The Department of Defense (DoD) is revving its engines again—this time to rocket past its own software acquisition drag. Launched via an April 24 memo from Acting DoD CIO Katie Arrington, the DoD’s Software Fast Track (SWFT) Initiative entered a 90‑day sprint to redefine Accelerating the Authority to Operate (ATOs), aiming to replace the outdated Risk…

New Hart-Scott-Rodino premerger notification rules, which took effect in February, require that companies now provide more information than ever before about their prospective mergers. Meanwhile, both federal and state antitrust enforcers continue to step up scrutiny of data-related antitrust harms such as information sharing, monopolization, and price coordination, and private litigants are also filing claims.…

23andMe, a pioneer in the DNA testing kit industry, announced that it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and recently asked to select an independent customer data representative regarding any sale of user data. Its bankruptcy raises issues about data privacy and what companies must do to protect that data for the benefit of…

WASHINGTON (March 25, 2025) – McCarter & English today announced that Erin Prest, former FBI Privacy & Civil Liberties Officer and Deputy General Counsel has joined the firm’s cybersecurity team as a partner in the firm’s Washington, DC office. Prest joins following an exemplary 18-year career at the FBI, where she oversaw the agency’s data…

The US Department of Justice Antitrust Division (DOJ or Division) recently released a revised Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs in Criminal Antitrust Investigations (Guidance). The Guidance reflects how the Division assesses the effectiveness and adequateness of a company’s antitrust compliance program. The Guidance offers insight into the Division’s evaluations of antitrust compliance programs at…

Contractors interested in offering federal agencies artificial intelligence (AI) can now glean insight into how agencies are expected to conduct AI acquisitions. On September 24, 2024, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued Memorandum M-24-18, Advancing the Responsible Acquisition of Artificial Intelligence in Government (the Memorandum), providing guidance and directing agencies “to improve their…