Human Trafficking + Workers' Comp Claims + Accessible Meetings + California Panic Buttons + Cyberattack

I. Human Trafficking Evolves Into a Defense and an Offense in Court

With the Office of the Texas Attorney General estimating that 234,000 labor trafficking victims and 79,000 minor sex trafficking victims are suffering in the state at any given moment,2 the Texas Legislature, like many legislative bodies across the country, is going on the offensive and attempting to tackle traffickers where they are most vulnerable—at hotels and lodging facilities, entertainment venues, restaurants, massage parlors, salons, and other commercial enterprises where businesses willingly or unwittingly become a part of traffickers’ crimes against humanity.

One case out of Wisconsin – The State of Wisconsin v. Chrystul Kizer3 – illustrates how broadly courts and law enforcement agencies have shifted their perspectives on human trafficking victims. Litigators and law enforcement authorities no longer view trafficked individuals as prostitutes, but rather as individuals who are trapped and in need of aid from society at large. In the Kizer case, the Wisconsin Supreme Court will decide whether Kizer, a victim of sex trafficking as a teen, can use her trafficker’s illicit activities against her as a claim for self-defense after she was charged with the murder of her trafficker.

Cybercriminals are finding new ways to hold their victims hostage – and a recent cyberattack on a luxury resort should serve as a warning for your business.

...What’s unique about this particular cyberattack is that the stolen information – which includes data from 1,500 employees and more than 2,500 guests, including dates the guests stayed at the hotel as well as employees’ birthdays, phone numbers, and Social Security numbers – was posted on the public internet in easily searchable form.

Typically, stolen confidential information such as this is only published on the "dark web" and is not as easily retrieved through any type of online searches. What does your business need to know about this new tactic – and what should you do to prevent such an attack?