Gone with the Wind? What Lawyers Need to Know about Cybersecurity and Disaster Planning and Response

Under Ms. Westby’s leadership, Global Cyber Risk LLC has developed an international reputation as a boutique firm that provides first-tier advisory, forensic, and technical services to corporations, non-profit organizations, and governments, focusing on privacy, security, cybercrime, and cyber risk management. Drawing upon a unique combination of more than twenty years of technical, legal, policy, and business experience, Ms. Westby also offers specialized expertise in cross-border data flows, IT governance, and global business environments.

Ms. Westby serves as Adjunct Professor at Georgia Institute of Technology’s School of Computer Science and as Adjunct Distinguished Fellow at Carnegie Mellon CyLab. She was lead author on Carnegie Mellon’s Governing for Enterprise Security Implementation Guide, which was developed for boards and senior management, and its 2008, 2010, and 2012 Governance of Enterprise Security Survey reports. Ms. Westby’s work for Carnegie Mellon on the governance responsibilities of boards and senior executives for the security of their organizations’ systems and data has been featured by the CISO Executive Network and Bloomberg BNA.

Prior to founding Global Cyber Risk, Ms. Westby served as senior managing director for PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) where she was responsible for information security, privacy, information sharing, and critical infrastructure protection issues across the federal government. She also was co-lead in launching their outsourcing practice.

Before joining PwC, Ms. Westby founded the Work-IT Group LLC and specialized in serving government and private sector clients on legal and regulatory issues associated with information technology and online business.

Working with The World Bank and USAID, Ms. Westby has advised government officials and industry in Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Romania, Armenia, Serbia, Russia, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Trinidad, Dominica, St. Lucia, Grenada, South Africa, Mexico, and India on the development of their legal frameworks for e-commerce, security, and privacy.

Previously, Ms. Westby was Director of Domestic Policy for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, where she was responsible for a wide range of business policy issues under her purview. Her department was responsible for influencing national policy in both the legislative and regulatory arenas in each of these areas. Ms. Westby organized and managed national coalitions and supervised U.S. Chamber involvement in 33 industry coalitions.

Ms. Westby is a member of the bars of the District of Columbia, Colorado, and Pennsylvania, and the American Bar Association (ABA). She is chair of the ABA’s Privacy and Computer Crime Committee and was chair, co-author and editor of its International Guide to Combating Cybercrime, International Guide to Cyber Security, International Guide to Privacy, and Roadmap to an Enterprise Security Program (endorsed by the Global CSO Council). She is author of two books on legal issues associated with cybersecurity research that will be published by the ABA in fall 2012. She represented the ABA on the National Conference of Lawyers and Scientists from 2004-2010.

She was appointed to the United Nations’ ITU High Level Experts Group on Cyber Security and chaired the development of the ITU Toolkit for Cybercrime Legislation. She was co-author and editor of the United Nations’ ITU 2010 publication, The Quest for Cyber Peace. Ms. Westby serves on the advisory board of The Intellectual Property Counselor and BNA’s Privacy and Security Law Report.

She has authored numerous articles and papers and has been quoted in publications such as the Financial Times, International Herald Tribune, USA Today, and Washington Post, and leading trade journals. She speaks globally on topics pertaining to her areas of expertise.

She was elected to join the American Bar Foundation in 2007 and the Cosmos Club in 2010.

She received her B.A., summa cum laude, from the University of Tulsa, and a J.D., magna cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center. She is a member of the Order of the Coif.

Donna Boyce serves as Solix’ Director of Recovery and Resiliency Programs and is a National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) 2016 Community Resilience Fellow.

Boyce’s background developing and managing programs assisting vulnerable populations, including those affected by natural disasters or economic difficulties, provide unique qualifications, making her a recovery and resilience resource for communities both pre and post disaster. Boyce’s experience includes serving as Director of Sandy Housing Recovery Programs at Community Development Corporation of Long Island. Combined with chairing the Long Island Long Term Recovery Group Housing Subcommittee, this work encompassed the full scope of housing recovery, from policy to implementation, resilient rebuilding, creating guidance materials for disaster case managers and using U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and other funding to assist survivors.

A frequent conference speaker, Boyce previously served in local and county government on Long Island administering federally-funded projects and in sustainable community development. She earned a B.A. in History and Political Science from the State University of New York – Albany, and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center.

Mr. Simek is the Vice President of Sensei Enterprises, Inc., a managed IT service provider, digital forensics and cybersecurity firm located in Fairfax, VA. Mr. Simek has a national reputation as a digital forensics technologist and has testified as an expert witness throughout the United States.

He holds a degree in engineering from the United States Merchant Marine Academy and an MBA in finance from Saint Joseph’s University.

Mr. Simek holds the prestigious Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) and EnCase Certified Examiner (EnCE) certifications. He is also a Certified Handheld Examiner, Certified Novell Engineer, Microsoft Certified Professional Internet, Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer, NT Certified Independent Professional, and a Certified Internetwork Professional. Mr. Simek is a 2016 Fastcase 50 award recipient and a Fellow (class of 2016) of the College of Law Practice Management. He is also a member of the High Tech Crime Network as well as the American Bar Association and the Fairfax Bar Association.

He currently provides information technology support to hundreds of Washington DC area law firms, legal entities and corporations. He is a co-host of the Legal Talk Network podcast “Digital Detectives” and a co-author of Locked Down: Practical Information for Lawyers 2nd Edition (American Bar Association, 2016), Encryption Made Simple for Lawyers (American Bar Association, 2015), Locked Down: Information Security for Lawyers (American Bar Association, 2012), The Electronic Evidence and Discovery Handbook: Forms, Checklists and Guidelines (American Bar Association, 2006), Information Security for Lawyers and Law Firms (American Bar Association, 2006), The 2008-2018 Solo and Small Firm Legal Technology Guides (American Bar Association, 2008-2018) and a contributing author of eDiscovery, 3rd Edition (Pennsylvania Bar Institute, 2014). He is a frequent author and speaker on information security, legal technology and electronic evidence throughout the country.

Ruth Hill Bro (Chicago) has focused her legal career on advising companies on privacy and information management strategy, global compliance, the electronic workplace, and e-business. She has been featured as a speaker on these issues over 160 times (including serving on the Planning Committee in 2016 and 2017 for the ABA’s first Internet of Things (IoT) National Institutes) and has over 90 published works on these topics. These works include The ABA Cybersecurity Handbook (contributing author, 2013, ABA), Data Breach and Encryption Handbook (two chapters, 2011, ABA), The E-Business Legal Arsenal: Practitioner Agreements and Checklists (Editor, 2004, ABA); Internet in the Workplace: Managing Organizational Access (designed and taught one-day course throughout the U.S. and co-authored book, 1997, Software Publishers Association); Online Law (five chapters, 1996, Addison-Wesley); and her column CPO Corner: Interviews with Leading Chief Privacy Officers (2005-present, published in The SciTech Lawyer magazine).

Ruth is a longstanding leader in the American Bar Association (ABA), where she serves as a member of the ABA Standing Committee on Disaster Response and Preparedness, the ABA Board of Governors Communications Task Force, the ABA E-Mail Stakeholder Committee, and the ABA Cybersecurity Legal Task Force (Co-Vice Chair). Ruth served two three-year terms on the ABA Standing Committee on Technology and Information Systems (the second term as Chair), three years as a liaison to the ABA Standing Committee on Continuing Legal Education, three years as a member of the ABA Cybersecurity Legal Task Force, and two years on the ABA Commission on the Future of Legal Services, a two-year presidential commission established to improve access to, and delivery of, legal services in the U.S. Ruth also is a leader in the ABA Section of Science & Technology Law (SciTech), where she serves as a Special Advisor to the Chairs of the Privacy, Security, and Emerging Technology Division and served as 2008-2009 Section Chair, Membership and Diversity Committee Chair (2009-2016), and E-Privacy Law Committee Founder and Chair (2000-2005).

Ruth has served on many of the top advisory/editorial boards in the privacy, data security, and technology field (including The SciTech Lawyer, DataGuidance (U.S. Panel of Experts), Internet Law & Strategy, The Privacy & Data Protection Legal Reporter (Executive Editor/Chairman of the Board of Editors), and BNA’s Privacy & Security Law Report) in addition to the boards of two arts organizations and the Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education. She has been recognized as a leader by numerous organizations, including for four consecutive years in Ethisphere Institute’s annual list of Attorneys Who Matter (data privacy/security).

Her views have been noted by the Wall Street Journal, International Herald Tribune, New York Times, Economist Intelligence Unit, ABA Journal, National Law Journal, Corporate Counsel, BNA Privacy & Security Law Report, Legaltech News, Bloomberg Radio, and CNBC. Ruth started her legal career at McBride Baker & Coles (now Holland & Knight) and then spent nearly a decade at Baker & McKenzie, where she was a partner in the Chicago office and founding North American member of the firm’s Global Privacy Steering Committee.

Before getting her J.D. from the University of Chicago, Ruth had a successful career in major gifts fundraising at Northwestern University, where she earned her B.A. in English and Political Science.