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Apple Privacy, IP Plans, and Cyber Laws
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Executive Summary
Apple is committed to customer data safety, protecting its intellectual properties, and ensuring the relevant cyber laws are enforced and applied appropriately. This plan discusses the company’s commitment to the governance and compliance standards related to these three elements. The plan also contains company actions to address the breach of these regulations, the protocols for addressing the breaches, and the employees in charge of enforcing the regulations. The plan also discusses the limits and Apple’s willingness to protect these measures, the security features, and the actions if internal or external parties violate such measures.
Privacy issues of customers
Defining customer data privacy
Customers are critical to the organization, and their information is the biggest asset Apple company has to safeguard. The definition of customer data privacy will cover the following:
Protecting consumer details such as names, age, account numbers, and system access history.
It is the safeguarding of any information disclosed by the consumer either verbally or through the system.
The definitions also include taking cautionary measures when handling and sharing customer data. Therefore, violation of the definition would result in customer privacy or customer data breaches.
What constitutes customer privacy/ data breaches?
The company holds many consumer data within its systems, and this data should be safeguarded at all costs. Therefore, customer data breaches will include the following sections.
Sharing customer data without consent. This can include sharing the data with other departments and colleagues.
Selling the data to rivals or marketing agencies.
Revealing details of consumers logged into the system to other parties, including colleagues.
Giving log-in and security details such as passwords and user names to other parties without the company’s consent.
Revealing any content to the authorities without direct permission.
When is the company allowed to share consumer data?
If the company is under investigation, it can use the data to show its intention and not violate any privacy concerns. Such information can only be released through court subpoenas and with the consent of the company’s legal and risk management heads.
The employees are only allowed to check customer data when resolving a situation, such as during customer care services or helping an employee handle a particular situation. These situations may include when the user forgets their password and the system cannot help them change the details successfully (Gurung & Raja, 2016). The data can only be shared with other departments such as marketing, sales, and R&D for research purposes.
Sharing, accessing and revealing customer data in the absence of these conditions will be regarded as data breach and violation of consumer privacy and will be followed by relevant measures and punishments.
Who is responsible for customer privacy enforcement?
The role of safeguarding customer data falls on all Apple employees regardless of the department and roles in the company. However, the customer data security team shall consist of the following:
Risk and compliance teams.
The role of risk management teams is to minimize the possible risks that may lead to customer privacy breaches. This includes ensuring processes and protocols do not have any loopholes that hackers or employees can use to access, share and transfer customer data without the relevant permission.
The risk management team will also ensure the data security system and protocols comply with various regulatory measures such as HIPPA security regulation and data privacy laws. They should investigate every process and new measures for compliance with the relevant laws to prevent any data attacks or breaches.
The IT team
The IT team is responsible for directly safeguarding customer data to prevent data breaches from external and internal sources. Their role includes installing security measures such as firewalls and authentication measures to ensure hackers cannot easily access the system for customer data.
Their role also includes system review, updates, and maintenance to identify potential loopholes and seal them to prevent data breaches. While fulfilling these roles, they are in charge of developing multiple security measures such as system accessibility classification to ensure employees have the appropriate clearance levels to access certain data types (Gurung & Raja, 2016). They should also review hardware and software systems to prevent data breaches.
Data backup and security. They should back up data in secure servers and cloud services to ensure the customer data is not entirely lost in case of attack. They should also ensure the data backup is secured through various measures to keep the data safe.
After investigating security and performance capabilities, they can approve new security and system investments. Before the company identifies any system vendors, the IT team should ensure its security protocols are excellent (Gurung & Raja, 2016). The manufactured or the outsourced system does not have any challenges that compromise customer data security.
Departmental privacy and security analyst
Every department at Apple must have privacy and security analysts to ensure the employees abide by the system security measures and the system security measures are enforced within the department (Gurung & Raja, 2016). Part of their role also involves offering guidance to employees on handling data and helping them in decision-making, especially on matters related to customer data security.
Their role is to investigate departmental security efficiency and identify potential weaknesses that may lead to data breaches or require training to handle. They should accomplish this duty in coordination with the IT and risk and compliance departments to ensure appropriate measures.
Security officers
These are the personnel employed by the company from various security agencies to safeguard the company’s resources. Part of their roles is to ensure unauthorized employees and any other third parties do not get access to server rooms or any rooms within the company where they are not supposed to be (Gurung & Raja, 2016). They treat any unauthorized person as a source of security threat and enforce the necessary measures to keep the systems safe.
Legal team
The legal team is majorly in charge of compliance and legal matters. They are supposed to ensure compliance with the relevant security laws and privacy clauses. They are also the company’s representatives in any cases related to privacy and security matters (Gurung & Raja, 2016). Their role is to advise employees and the company during security case depositions and approaches to court cases related to data privacy violations.
Third-party vendors
These are the owners of the system used in the company. Their role is to train the IT team on privacy matters and enforce them within the system (Gurung & Raja, 2016). They should also reveal any loopholes that can cause security breaches, hence helping the IT team respond in case of any breaches.
They should make the system security features, update them, and ensure they are safe. They also handle various company data. Hence they are not allowed to disclose and company data shared during the system manufacturing or upgrades.
Public relations teams
This team is in charge of company reputation; hence they form part of the committee to advise on some measures that can lead to customer complaints about data breaches. They are also in charge of communications to the customers if any security and privacy issues directly affect them.
The role of the security team in case of data breaches?
In the event of any customer security breaches or any non-compliance issues are raised, the security enforcement team shall:
Investigate the incidences internally and collaborate with the relevant authorities to sufficiently address the matter. The investigations should focus on addressing the source of the issue, such as the source of data breaches (Jonnes, 2018, p. 24). Secondly, the investigations should identify the people responsible for the breaches.
The team should work towards mitigating the damages. The team should use legal measures to effectively address the breaches and the resulting financial, reputational, and credibility damages (Jonnes, 2018, p. 24). The team is also in charge of minimizing the adverse impacts to Apple company in an ethical, legal, and appropriate manner.
Assist and develop corrective measures. After investigating the incidence, the team should develop recommendations to the company management on addressing such breaches in the future (Jonnes, 2018, p. 24). The measures could include increasing system access security by using multiple access protocols and disciplinary actions if the employees conducted the actions.
Conduct post-incidence reviews. The team should be responsible for internal communication to prevent future attacks (Jonnes, 2018, p. 24). The team should also recommend training and education to help employees become aware of customer data breach methodologies and possible measures for preventing such attacks in the future.
Response to customer security breaches
The appropriate response should follow the following guidelines whenever the relevant departments identify any data breaches.
System closure and communication. Whenever data breaches occur, the company management led by the IT team should put out a message about system glitches and communicate a short duration when the system is supposed to go offline before returning (Jonnes, 2018, p. 62). The reason for this measure is to ensure the possible and subsequent attacks are stopped to reduce any further consequences.
After the communication and system shutdown, the IT team should identify the attack pattern. This involves creating an attack pattern map to show how the attackers logged in to the system, the source of the attack, the devices used, and the attackers’ activities in the system. This information should be printed and written in a report containing the systems attacked, potential damages, the source, and any subsequent attacks to the system.
After that, the team should focus on regaining control of the system from the hackers, logging out all devices, stopping all activities in the system. This should be followed by the possible preventive measure and improved security measures before the system is again online (Jonnes, 2018, p. 63). Once the system comes back online, users should re-enter the log-in details to access the system.
The following managers should address the data breaches: IT, risk management, finance, operations, customer relations, and the CEO. After informing the relevant managers, an emergency meeting should be convened within a maximum of 36 hours to address the challenges (Jonnes, 2018, p. 64). The meeting should involve the company’s top management, the head of departments, and the management board. The chair of the board should chair the meeting, and it should focus on the following:
Effective measures to address the challenge
Providing a way forward
Examining the consequences of the damage
Reviewing the potential mitigation measures
Selection and institutionalization of the investigation committee.
After the meeting, an official statement should be made to the consumers about the incident. The company should also communicate the source of the attack, possible damages and reassure the customers about the ongoing investigations to improve system safety (Jonnes, 2018, p. 70). A full investigation should follow to identify the attack’s implications and the impacts on various departments.
Customer data privacy/protection features
System access security features. This applies to employees and system users. Everyone has a log-in detail consisting of the user name and password. The details can only access one account.
Security clearance levels: Employees can only access the data within their classified levels. They can only access higher-level data with the relevant permission and in the presence of the relevant authority.
Multiple security layers: Certain data access level requires multiple access to data. This includes the use of biometrics and passwords to access the data.
Hardware and system clearance: Every employee has log-in details that only work on laptops and desktops. The log-in details for one system cannot apply to the other system since every system is designated to an employee.
System lock durations: The computers will lock after ten seconds of idleness to prevent other parties from accessing the system in the short absence of the owner. Multiple and failed log-in attempts up to five will result in the complete system lock since such attempts will be considered a security threat. The system can only be opened with the help of IT personnel.
Keycards and other biometrics for rooms: These are security features for accessing rooms such as server rooms. Only employees with key card details and biometrics with clearance levels will be allowed in the server rooms.
Rugged drive protection: every computer’s hard drive has a Bit-Locker security password. This locks out all unauthorized personnel from accessing hard drive details. Only the system users can access the data.
Cloud services protection: Every system user has security level clearance to access company cloud data. Passwords and other features protect the data stored in the cloud.
Intellectual Property laws in Apple
Our intellectual properties consist of a range of tangible and intangible items. Some of the items in our list of the intellectual property consist of:
iPhones
Ipods
Ipads
Software such as Apple OS, apple store
Laptops
Future innovations.
Sources of IP threat
One of the primary sources of threats to our intellectual property is IP theft. We have valuable software and hardware that are facing a more significant threat from various sources such as:
Rivals: we have various rivals that threaten our products, such as phone manufactures, laptop manufactures, software companies, and other technology manufacturers (World Intellectual Property Organization, 2020). These groups can steal Apple IPs to develop products with similar functionality and design or those that perform than our products; hence we will lose market share, customers, and reputation.
Cybercriminals: Apple recognizes the effects of hackers on company IPs. The attackers majorly target systems and cloud data and employee computers to access the Apple network and systems. This can give them quick access to company IPs (World Intellectual Property Organization, 2020). They can also access the system through assisted efforts or sending content to employee devices.
Employees: We consider employees some of the biggest threats to Apple IPs. Since they are in contact with Apple products and services, they can share their secrets with rivals or leak them on social media and the internet (Sharma, 2020). Employees can also start security attacks on the company system, leading to company IPs access. They can also aid attackers to gain access past the company firewalls and steal the ongoing inventions and products awaiting release.
Countries with no IP laws: Apple faces a more significant threat than nations where IP laws are not enforced. Manufacturers in such nations are prone to violating Apple patents such as the Apple logo to brand on products. The effect leads to the loss of a reputation for low-quality products.
Intellectual property laws filed by Apple
The following are the recognized intellectual property laws at Apple
Copyrights: These are the rights we have over various creations and innovations. This includes the rights over our software systems used in various devices such as laptops, phones, and watches (Sharma, 2020). The rights also cover Apple products consisting of iOS, iTunes, Apple Store, Mac OS, and many more.
Patents: These are the rights we have over various inventions developed by the company. The most common is the right over Siri. We control how and where it can be used and how other security and home protection system manufacturers integrate it into their systems (Sharma, 2020). They cannot put it with other rival products within the same system. We can outsource Siri to other manufactures under the trade partnership agreements.
Trademarks: These are the rights that protect our systems and distinguish them from other items. The Apple logo is only applicable to Apple devices. Another patent is the look, color, and design of our products. Other manufactures cannot develop a replica design of our products; they can get closer but not replicate the exact design (Sharma, 2020). This also includes protection against violating our industrial designs for various products and services.
Trade secrets protect confidential information that we may sell to sell or license. This includes the rights we offer to our retailers, warranty services providers, marketers, and dealers that handle apple products.
The violation of these laws shall entail activities such as:
Employees share product features, innovations with competitors.
Companies making similar products based on Apple innovation.
Theft of IPs through external hacking or employee activities.
Companies or manufacturers make different items and use Apple IPs to attract customers.
Intellectual property Protection plan
Non-disclosure agreement
All employees, especially those involved in innovation departments such as IT and R&D, must sign a non-disclosure agreement. The non-disclosure agreement restricts employees from disclosing future innovation or company secrets to rivals. It also binds employees to an agreement even if they leave the company to move to another job or join a rival company.
Company secrets
One of the most significant sources of threats and competition is filing a patent. Patenting sometimes provides a secret on how the products are created; hence competitors can twist the model to create a complementary or similar product (Sharma, 2020). Some of these products include software which we prefer to protect through company measures. Some of the non-filed IP protection measures are discussed below:
Separating teams
We have teams in different locations to ensure that they do not have access to a complete product enabling them to steal the entire IP secrets. We protect this through divisions of the departments and processes (World Intellectual Property Organization, 2020). At Apple, this will be achieved by manufacturing specific chips in Taiwan and hiring companies such as Dell to make other chips in the United States. Then we send all the products to China for assembling into a phone, laptop, watch, or I pad. The innovation or the R&D team will be based in the United States. The separation prevents conspiracy, which can lead to leakage of IP secrets.
Outsourcing
We will minimize the chances of IP theft through outsourcing when everything is manufactured in-house. The vendors will get the company’s specifications, then manufacture the products and deliver them to the company (World Intellectual Property Organization, 2020). Our role will be reduced to innovation, shipping, and retail, reducing the possibility of the IP getting into employees’ complete control and hands.
The company shall not engage in any joint ownership or development of a product with other cooperation, rivals, or manufacturers. Apple shall remain an independent manufacturer and only outsource various items and manufacturing processes to independent companies. These companies must also meet specific security criteria.
Trade agreement and partnership control
All Apple retailers are limited to only dealing in Apple products to prevent IP theft. They also have to sign a partnership agreement not to share any company secrets or the rights we share with them in business ventures.
Use of laws
The legal and compliance department will be in charge of ensuring all the IPs are protected. Their role is to ensure copyright; trademark laws are enforced, protecting the company from external IP theft.
Access control measures
We have various security measures to protect our intellectual property from theft. These measures will be designed to protect the IPs from theft due to employee activities and cybercriminals (Kur & Mizaras, 2011, p. 24). The measures include system authentication, passwords, biometrics, and system access levels to protect company top secrets and items.
IP protection team
The IP protection team shall consist of the following teams:
Marketing and sales department
The departments are primarily in charge of marketing company products; hence they use various intellectual properties such as logos, design features to convince customers to buy the products. They also collect data and monitor competitor products; hence, they will report any IP theft incidences to the company management (Kur & Mizaras, 2011, p. 36). They are also in charge of making partnerships with retailers and dealers; hence they must ensure the retailers sign an agreement related to IP laws and protection.
The legal and compliance team: The team is responsible for ensuring the company only gets IP laws for genuine products that have not been introduced in the market. Their role is to ensure the company does not fall into IP laws violations. In case of any violations, they ensure appropriate measures to protect the company IPs.
IT department
Their role is to ensure organizational systems security to keep away IP thieves and prevent system attacks that lead to IP theft.
R&D team
The research and development department is in charge of innovation and product development; hence they handle various complete and incomplete inventions. Their position in the company gives them direct access to the product during the testing and development stage; hence they are subjects to non-disclosure agreements related to various inventions (Carletta, 2021). They should ensure they do not leak, share or hint any company products or inventions to competitors.
Handling IP violations
In case of any IP policies and laws violations, Apple shall take adequate measures to address such issues. Some of the measures included
Filing IP violation cases. The legal and compliance team shall file IP violations laws against companies, competitors, employees, or individuals using Apple IP laws without consent or authority. The court cases shall intend to recover the damages and ensure other offenders learn from such actions.
Actions on employees: Violation of the non-disclosure agreement is a crime; hence the company will begin by contract termination then file a court case for violation of the contractual agreement. The company will sue for the damages and other relevant violations.
Measures against cyber theft: After investigations, if it is discovered that the cyber-attack affects the company IPs, the legal team shall file for the damages to the relevant authorities.
The damages of the legal suits can either be settled in court or outside the court bit the offenders should pay for the damages. The payment shall be from financial losses due to gains from using Apple IPs (Carletta, 2021). It shall include injunction from manufacturing similar products or the field of expertise.
Cyber laws that Apply to Apple
Elements of private customer data
Apple collects various types of data about the consumers. The data collected is related to purchase details, suggestions, and personal information. The data include:
Consumer names (User names during log-ins and system access)
Customer passwords for accessing the system
Bank account details and VISA card numbers
Customer purchase history and details (Frequent, desires, and most minor purchases)
Customer addresses
Next of kin and their details
Gender and marital status
Education levels and many more
Protocols of sharing customer data
These are private information and should not be shared unless with the relevant authority and customer consent.
Data protection/privacy principles
The following principles shall apply when the company is dealing with customer data:
Fair, lawful, and transparent: The data must be processed lawfully and fairly. This also applies to the collecting and transfer of data.
Limitation: The data should be collected for a good purpose and should only be used alone.
Minimization: The employees should only collect and process the necessary data, and it must be relevant for the purpose.
Accuracy: The data should be accurate, complete, up to date, and relevant.
Storage limitation: Data should only be retained for a particular duration. After use, it should be deleted when it is no longer relevant.
Integrity and confidentiality: Data of all sorts, including those on transit, should be adequately protected.
Accountability: Those in charge of handling various data should be accountable, take measures to protect the data, and comply with data protection laws.
The following cyber laws apply to Apple:
Cybersecurity information sharing Act of 2015
The law requires Apple to share any threats that may attack other companies. After an attack, the company should investigate the threat. If it is considered an industrial threat or may affect other companies, Apple shall share the data with the relevant authorities and companies (Fischer, 2014, p. 17). Such attacks should be made public to warn other companies to improve their security features to avoid such attacks.
California SB-327 Bill for IoT Security
Since Apple is involved in the wide use of artificial intelligence, it applies to manufacturing and protecting phones. Based on the laws, Apple will manufacture internet-connected devices; however, it will allow the users to protect their devices using multiple and individual recognized and unique passwords and protection features (Al Rees, 2006, p. 37). This will protect users of Apple products from passwords and security features that hackers could easily access. The law also requires us to install good security features to protect consumers. We will install features such as biometrics, face unlock, and password security measures.
California consumer privacy act
The law requires Apple to seek consumers’ consent before collecting their data. We will also disclose how the data is used and any other third party we share the information with (Al Rees, 2006, p. 42). The customers also have the right to confirm the type of data we requested and the ones we hold in the system about them.
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
The law applies to European Union member states; however, it partly affects Apple because the EU is one of our largest markets (Fischer, 2014, p. 40). The laws apply to us because we collect consumer data from all customers, including those in the EU:
The regulations provide the following data protection guidelines
The right for consumers to know the purposes of the data.
Consumer consent during data collection.
Reporting and dealing with data breaches.
Enforcing various policies and mechanisms to protect consumer data in our custody.
Assess and review our data protection and security measures. We have the responsibility to carry out frequent updates and system changes.
Protecting data during transfers and while in control of our third-party patents.
Assigning and employing data protection personnel such as system security analysis to ensure consumer data safety.
Creation of awareness and training our employees on cybersecurity and consumer data privacy.
Using data for legitimate purposes and storing data for specific durations.
The role of cyber security laws
Customer data/privacy protection policies at Apple should ensure the following:
There should be a limit to customer data collection since employees are only limited to collecting certain data types. It should also be obtained through lawful and fair means and transparently.
The purpose of collecting the data should be specified; hence, using it for any purpose besides the recommended purposes shall be considered a privacy violation (Raul, 2014, p. 16). Personal data can only be used for original purposes and should be deleted when necessary for the company.
Ensuring personal data is relevant, adequate, and processed for their intended purpose.
When collecting the data, employees should ensure the data is complete, measurable, and up to date.
Enforcing reasonable security measures to secure the customers registering into the system immediately. The security should protect the data from modification, unauthorized access, and disclosure.
Ensuring individual privacy rights are given priority during the data collection process.
Conclusion
Enforcing cyber laws, customer privacy, and protecting intellectual property can be challenging. Apple should be committed to meeting regulations in these three areas by taking the following measure:
Enforcing appropriate security measures.
Appointing committees made of various departments to enforce the measures and ensure compliance.
Use of various security and non-security features to prevent attacks.
Address response protocols and actions that follow in case of violations.
Working with external authorities and regulators to ensure compliance.
References
Al Rees. (2006). Cybercrime Laws of the United States (123). Department of Homeland Security.
Fischer, E. A. (2014). Federal laws relating to cybersecurity: Overview of major issues, current laws, and proposed legislation.
Gurung, A., & Raja, M. K. (2016). Online privacy and security concerns of consumers. Information & Computer Security.
Raul, A. C. (2014). The privacy, data protection, and cybersecurity law review. He Privacy, Data Protection, and Cybersecurity Law Review.
Carletta, C. J. (2021). Intellectual Property Basic Concepts and Principles [Doctoral dissertation]. Stetson University College of Law
Kur, A., & Mizaras, V. (2011). The structure of intellectual property law (24). Edward Elgar Publishing.
Sharma, A. (2020, June). Intellectual Property Rights-Laws and Practices [Report]. Institute of Company Secretaries India.
World Intellectual Property Organization. (2020). WIPO intellectual property handbook: Policy, law, and use. WIPO.
Jonnes, D. (2018). A Guide for Policy Engagement on Data Protection (13). Privacy International.
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