Nations Title Agency, Inc.; Analysis of Proposed Consent Order To Aid Public Comment, 28336-28338 [E6-7397]

Download as PDF 28336 Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 94 / Tuesday, May 16, 2006 / Notices Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, May 11, 2006. Robert deV. Frierson, Deputy Secretary of the Board. [FR Doc. E6–7399 Filed 5–15–06; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6210–01–S FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM Notice of Proposals to Engage in Permissible Nonbanking Activities or to Acquire Companies that are Engaged in Permissible Nonbanking Activities sroberts on PROD1PC70 with NOTICES The companies listed in this notice have given notice under section 4 of the Bank Holding Company Act (12 U.S.C. 1843) (BHC Act) and Regulation Y (12 CFR Part 225) to engage de novo, or to acquire or control voting securities or assets of a company, including the companies listed below, that engages either directly or through a subsidiary or other company, in a nonbanking activity that is listed in § 225.28 of Regulation Y (12 CFR 225.28) or that the Board has determined by Order to be closely related to banking and permissible for bank holding companies. Unless otherwise noted, these activities will be conducted throughout the United States. Each notice is available for inspection at the Federal Reserve Bank indicated. The notice also will be available for inspection at the offices of the Board of Governors. Interested persons may express their views in writing on the question whether the proposal complies with the standards of section 4 of the BHC Act. Additional information on all bank holding companies may be obtained from the National Information Center website at www.ffiec.gov/nic/. Unless otherwise noted, comments regarding the applications must be received at the Reserve Bank indicated or the offices of the Board of Governors not later than June 9, 2006. A. Federal Reserve Bank of New York (Anne McEwen, Financial Specialist) 33 Liberty Street, New York, New York 10045-0001: 1. Societe Generale, Paris, France; to engage de novo through its subsidiary Societe Generale, FSB, New York, New York in owing and operating a savings and loan association, pursuant to section 225.24(b)(4) of Regulation Y. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, May 10, 2006. Robert deV. Frierson, Deputy Secretary of the Board. [FR Doc. E6–7368 Filed 5–15–06; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6210–01–S VerDate Aug<31>2005 16:06 May 15, 2006 Jkt 208001 FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM Sunshine Act Meeting Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. TIME AND DATE: 11:30 a.m., Monday, May 22, 2006. PLACE: Marriner S. Eccles Federal Reserve Board Building, 20th and C Streets, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20551. STATUS: Closed. MATTERS TO BE CONSIDERED: 1. Personnel actions (appointments, promotions, assignments, reassignments, and salary actions) involving individual Federal Reserve System employees. 2. Any items carried forward from a previously announced meeting. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michelle Smith, Director, or Dave Skidmore, Assistant to the Board, Office of Board Members at 202–452–2955. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: You may call 202–452–3206 beginning at approximately 5 p.m. two business days before the meeting for a recorded announcement of bank and bank holding company applications scheduled for the meeting; or you may contact the Board’s Web site at https:// www.federalreserve.gov for an electronic announcement that not only lists applications, but also indicates procedural and other information about the meeting. AGENCY HOLDING THE MEETING: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, May 12, 2006. Robert deV. Frierson, Deputy Secretary of the Board. [FR Doc. 06–4612 Filed 5–12–06; 1:32 pm] BILLING CODE 6210–01–S FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION [File No. 052 3117] Nations Title Agency, Inc.; Analysis of Proposed Consent Order To Aid Public Comment Federal Trade Commission. Proposed consent agreement. AGENCY: ACTION: SUMMARY: The consent agreement in this matter settles alleged violations of Federal law prohibiting unfair or deceptive acts or practices or unfair methods of competition. The attached Analysis to Aid Public Comment describes both the allegations in the draft complaint and the terms of the consent order—embodied in the consent agreement—that would settle these allegations. PO 00000 Frm 00041 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 Comments must be received on or before June 9, 2006. ADDRESSES: Interested parties are invited to submit written comments. Comments should refer to ‘‘Nations Title Agency, File No. 052 3117,’’ to facilitate the organization of comments. A comment filed in paper form should include this reference both in the text and on the envelope, and should be mailed or delivered to the following address: Federal Trade Commission/ Office of the Secretary, Room 135–H, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20580. Comments containing confidential material must be filed in paper form, must be clearly labeled ‘‘Confidential,’’ and must comply with Commission Rule 4.9(c). 16 CFR 4.9(c) (2005).1 The FTC is requesting that any comment filed in paper form be sent by courier or overnight service, if possible, because U.S. postal mail in the Washington area and at the Commission is subject to delay due to heightened security precautions. Comments that do not contain any nonpublic information may instead be filed in electronic form as part of or as an attachment to e-mail messages directed to the following email box: consentagreement@ftc.gov. The FTC Act and other laws the Commission administers permit the collection of public comments to consider and use in this proceeding as appropriate. All timely and responsive public comments, whether filed in paper or electronic form, will be considered by the Commission, and will be available to the public on the FTC Web site, to the extent practicable, at https://www.ftc.gov. As a matter of discretion, the FTC makes every effort to remove home contact information for individuals from the public comments it receives before placing those comments on the FTC Web site. More information, including routine uses permitted by the Privacy Act, may be found in the FTC’s privacy policy, at https://www.ftc.gov/ ftc/privacy.htm. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Alain Sheer or Loretta Garrison, Bureau of Consumer Protection, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20580, (202) 326–3224. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to section 6(f) of the Federal Trade Commission Act, 38 Stat. 721, 15 U.S.C. DATES: 1 The comment must be accompanied by an explicit request for confidential treatment, including the factual and legal basis for the request, and must identify the specific portions of the comment to be withheld from the public record. The request will be granted or denied by the Commission’s General Counsel, consistent with applicable law and the public interest. See Commission Rule 4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c). E:\FR\FM\16MYN1.SGM 16MYN1 Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 94 / Tuesday, May 16, 2006 / Notices sroberts on PROD1PC70 with NOTICES 46(f), and § 2.34 of the Commission Rules of Practice, 16 CFR 2.34, notice is hereby given that the above-captioned consent agreement containing a consent order to cease and desist, having been filed with and accepted, subject to final approval, by the Commission, has been placed on the public record for a period of thirty (30) days. The following Analysis to Aid Public Comment describes the terms of the consent agreement, and the allegations in the complaint. An electronic copy of the full text of the consent agreement package can be obtained from the FTC Home Page (for May 10, 2006), on the World Wide Web, at https://www.ftc.gov/ os/2006/05/index.htm. A paper copy can be obtained from the FTC Public Reference Room, Room 130–H, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20580, either in person or by calling (202) 326–2222. Public comments are invited, and may be filed with the Commission in either paper or electronic form. All comments should be filed as prescribed in the ADDRESSES section above, and must be received on or before the date specified in the DATES section. Analysis of Agreement Containing Consent Order To Aid Public Comment The Federal Trade Commission has accepted, subject to final approval, a consent agreement from Nations Title Agency, Inc (‘‘Nations Title’’), Nations Holding Company (‘‘Nations Holding’’), and Christopher M. Likens (‘‘Likens’’). The consent agreement has been placed on the public record for thirty (30) days for receipt of comments by interested persons. Comments received during this period will become part of the public record. After thirty (30) days, the Commission will again review the agreement and the comments received, and will decide whether it should withdraw from the agreement and take appropriate action or make final the agreement’s proposed order. According to the Commission’s proposed complaint, Nations Holding, Nations Title, and Likens provide services in connection with financing home purchases and refinancing existing home mortgages, including, but not limited to, real estate settlement services, residential closings, title abstracts, title commitments, appraisals, foreclosure management, asset disposition, and real estate management. Likens wholly owns Nations Holding, a subchapter ‘‘S’’ corporation, and has the authority to control the conduct of Nations Holding and its subsidiaries, including Nations Title. In providing these services, Nations Title, Nations Holding, and VerDate Aug<31>2005 16:06 May 15, 2006 Jkt 208001 Likens (‘‘respondents’’) routinely obtain sensitive consumer information from banks and other lenders, real estate brokers, consumers, public records, and others, including but not limited to consumer names, Social Security numbers, bank and credit card account numbers, mortgage information, loan applications, purchase contracts, refinancing agreements, income histories, and credit histories (collectively, ‘‘personal information’’). The Commission’s proposed complaint alleges that respondents failed to employ reasonable and appropriate security measures to protect personal information. In particular, the proposed complaint alleges that respondents have engaged in a number of practices that, taken together, failed to provide reasonable and appropriate security for consumers’ personal information. Among other things, respondents failed to: (1) Assess risks to the information they collected and stored both online and offline; (2) implement reasonable policies and procedures in key areas, such as employee screening and training and the collection, handling, and disposal of personal information; (3) implement simple, low-cost, and readily available defenses to common website attacks, or implement reasonable access controls, such as strong passwords, to prevent a hacker from gaining access to personal information stored on respondents’ computer network; (4) employ reasonable measures to detect and respond to unauthorized access to personal information or to conduct security investigations; and (5) provide reasonable oversight for the handling of personal information by service providers, such as third parties employed to process the information and assist in real estate closings. The proposed complaint alleges that in April 2004, a hacker exploited these failures by using a common Web site attack to obtain unauthorized access to Nations Holding’s computer network. In addition, in February 2005, a Kansas City television station found documents containing sensitive personal information discarded in a dumpster used by respondents located in an unsecured area adjacent to their building. According to the complaint, respondents’ practices violated the Gramm-Leach-Bliley (‘‘GLB’’) Safeguards Rule because respondents failed to: (1) Identify reasonably foreseeable internal and external risks to the security, confidentiality, and integrity of customer information; (2) design and implement information safeguards to control the risks to PO 00000 Frm 00042 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 28337 customer information and regularly test and monitor them; (3) investigate, evaluate, and adjust the information security program in light of known or identified risks; (4) develop, implement, and maintain a comprehensive written information security program; and (5) oversee service providers and require them by contract to implement safeguards to protect respondent’s customer information. In addition, the proposed complaint alleges that respondents misrepresented that they implemented reasonable and appropriate measures to protect consumers’ personal information from unauthorized access, in violation of Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (‘‘FTC Act’’). Further, the proposed complaint alleges that respondents disseminated a privacy policy that does not accurately reflect their privacy policies and practices, in violation of the GLB Privacy Rule. The proposed order applies to personal information from or about consumers that respondents collect in connection with their real estate-related services. The proposed order contains provisions designed to prevent them from engaging in the future in practices similar to those alleged in the complaint. Part I of the proposed order requires that respondents not misrepresent the extent to which they maintain and protect the privacy, confidentiality, or integrity of any personal information collected from or about consumers. Part II of the proposed order requires respondents to establish and maintain a comprehensive information security program in writing that is reasonably designed to protect the security, confidentiality, and integrity of personal information they collect from or about consumers. The security program must contain administrative, technical, and physical safeguards appropriate to their size and complexity, the nature and scope of their activities, and the sensitivity of the personal information collected. Specifically, the order requires respondents to: • Designate an employee or employees to coordinate and be accountable for the information security program. • Identify material internal and external risks to the security, confidentiality, and integrity of consumer information that could result in unauthorized disclosure, misuse, loss, alteration, destruction, or other compromise of such information, and assess the sufficiency of any safeguards in place to control these risks. • Design and implement reasonable safeguards to control the risks identified E:\FR\FM\16MYN1.SGM 16MYN1 sroberts on PROD1PC70 with NOTICES 28338 Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 94 / Tuesday, May 16, 2006 / Notices through risk assessment, and regularly test or monitor the effectiveness of the safeguards’ key controls, systems, and procedures. • Evaluate and adjust their information security program in light of the results of testing and monitoring, any material changes to their operations or business arrangements, or any other circumstances that they know or have reason to know may have a material impact on the effectiveness of their information security program. Part III of the proposed order requires that respondents not violate any provision of the GLB Safeguards Rule and Privacy Rule, as well as the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act’s Disposal Rule. Part IV of the proposed order requires that respondents obtain within 180 days, and on a biennial basis thereafter, an assessment and report from a qualified, objective, independent thirdparty professional, certifying, among other things, that: (1) They have in place a security program that provides protections that meet or exceed the protections required by Part II of the proposed order, and (2) their security program is operating with sufficient effectiveness to provide reasonable assurance that the security, confidentiality, and integrity of consumers’ personal information has been protected. Parts V through X of the proposed order are reporting and compliance provisions. Part V requires respondents to retain documents relating to their compliance with the order. Part VI requires dissemination of the order now and in the future to persons with supervisory responsibilities relating to the subject matter of the order. Part VII requires Likens to notify the Commission of changes in his business or employment in connection with providing financial products or services. Part VIII requires respondents to notify the Commission of changes in their corporate status. Part IX mandates that they submit compliance reports to the FTC. Part X is a provision ‘‘sunsetting’’ the order after twenty (20) years, with certain exceptions. The purpose of this analysis is to facilitate public comment on the proposed order. It is not intended to constitute an official interpretation of the proposed order or to modify its terms in any way. By direction of the Commission. Donald S. Clark, Secretary. [FR Doc. E6–7397 Filed 5–15–06; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6750–01–P VerDate Aug<31>2005 16:06 May 15, 2006 Jkt 208001 DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Youth Empowerment Demonstration Grant Program Office of Minority Health, Office of Public Health and Science, Office of the Secretary, HHS. ACTION: Notice. AGENCY: Announcement Type: Competitive Initial Announcement of Availability of Funds. Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number: (1) Youth Empowerment Demonstration Grant Program—93.910. Application Availability Date: May 16, 2006. Application Deadline: June 15, 2006. SUMMARY: This announcement is made by the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS or Department), Office of Minority Health (OMH) located within the Office of Public Health and Science (OPHS), and working in a ‘‘One-Department’’ approach collaboratively with participating HHS agencies and programs (entities). The mission of the OMH is to improve the health of racial and ethnic minority populations through the development of policies and programs that address disparities and gaps. OMH serves as the focal point in the HHS for leadership, policy development and coordination, service demonstrations, information exchange, coalition and partnership building, and related efforts to address the health needs of racial and ethnic minorities. As part of a continuing HHS effort to improve the health and well being of racial and ethnic minorities, the Department announces availability of FY 2006 funding for the Youth Empowerment Demonstration Grant Program (‘‘Youth Empowerment Program’’). Violence among children and adolescents continues to be a public health concern. In 2002, more than 877,700 young people ages 10 to 24 were injured from violent acts.1 For this same age group, homicide is the second leading cause of death over-all: the leading cause of death for AfricanAmericans, the second leading cause of death for Hispanics, and the third leading cause of death for American Indians, Alaskan Natives, and Asian Pacific Islanders.2 Suicide is the third leading cause of death among young people ages 15–24, with American DATES: 1 Youth Violence: Fact Sheet, retrieved October 7, 2005 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control Web Site: https://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/ factsheets/yvfacts. 2 Ibid. PO 00000 Frm 00043 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 Indian and Alaskan Natives having the highest rate of suicide in this age group.3 During the hours immediately after school, teens are more likely to commit violent crimes and to be the victims of violence than at any other time. For teens ages 12 to 17, this risk peaks at 3 p.m.4 Other behaviors that contribute to placing youth at risk for unhealthy lifestyles, including violence, include tobacco use; alcohol and other drug use; sexual behaviors that contribute to unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV infection; unhealthy dietary habits; and physical inactivity.5 Data suggest that helping young people to achieve their full potential is the best way to prevent them from engaging in risky behaviors. The Youth Empowerment Program provides targeted youth safe places with organized activities, opportunities to use their time positively, academic enrichment, mentoring relationships with young adult role models, career exposure, opportunities to engage in community service, information and guidance on embracing healthy choices and lifestyles, and ongoing interaction with the community. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Table of Contents Section I. Funding Opportunity Description 1. Purpose 2. OMH Expectations 3. Applicant Project Results 4. Project Requirements Section II. Award Information Section III. Eligibility Information 1. Eligible Applicants 2. Cost Sharing or Matching 3. Other Section IV. Application and Submission Information 1. Address To Request Application Package 2. Content and Form of Application Submission 3. Submission Dates and Time 4. Intergovernmental Review 5. Funding Restrictions Section V. Application Review Information 1. Criteria 2. Review and Selection Process 3. Anticipated Award Date Section VI. Award Administration Information 1. Award Notices 3 Suicide: Fact Sheet, retrieved October 15, 2005 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control Web Site: https://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/ factsheets/yvfacts. 4 After School Programs, retrieved October 7, 2005 from the National Youth Violence Prevention Resource Center Web site: https:// www.safeyouth.org/scripts/teens/after. 5 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, May 21, 2004, Vol. 53, retrieved January 31, 2006 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Web Site: https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr. E:\FR\FM\16MYN1.SGM 16MYN1

Agencies

[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 94 (Tuesday, May 16, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 28336-28338]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-7397]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION

[File No. 052 3117]


Nations Title Agency, Inc.; Analysis of Proposed Consent Order To 
Aid Public Comment

AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission.

ACTION: Proposed consent agreement.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The consent agreement in this matter settles alleged 
violations of Federal law prohibiting unfair or deceptive acts or 
practices or unfair methods of competition. The attached Analysis to 
Aid Public Comment describes both the allegations in the draft 
complaint and the terms of the consent order--embodied in the consent 
agreement--that would settle these allegations.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before June 9, 2006.

ADDRESSES: Interested parties are invited to submit written comments. 
Comments should refer to ``Nations Title Agency, File No. 052 3117,'' 
to facilitate the organization of comments. A comment filed in paper 
form should include this reference both in the text and on the 
envelope, and should be mailed or delivered to the following address: 
Federal Trade Commission/Office of the Secretary, Room 135-H, 600 
Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20580. Comments containing 
confidential material must be filed in paper form, must be clearly 
labeled ``Confidential,'' and must comply with Commission Rule 4.9(c). 
16 CFR 4.9(c) (2005).\1\ The FTC is requesting that any comment filed 
in paper form be sent by courier or overnight service, if possible, 
because U.S. postal mail in the Washington area and at the Commission 
is subject to delay due to heightened security precautions. Comments 
that do not contain any nonpublic information may instead be filed in 
electronic form as part of or as an attachment to e-mail messages 
directed to the following e-mail box: consentagreement@ftc.gov.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ The comment must be accompanied by an explicit request for 
confidential treatment, including the factual and legal basis for 
the request, and must identify the specific portions of the comment 
to be withheld from the public record. The request will be granted 
or denied by the Commission's General Counsel, consistent with 
applicable law and the public interest. See Commission Rule 4.9(c), 
16 CFR 4.9(c).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The FTC Act and other laws the Commission administers permit the 
collection of public comments to consider and use in this proceeding as 
appropriate. All timely and responsive public comments, whether filed 
in paper or electronic form, will be considered by the Commission, and 
will be available to the public on the FTC Web site, to the extent 
practicable, at https://www.ftc.gov. As a matter of discretion, the FTC 
makes every effort to remove home contact information for individuals 
from the public comments it receives before placing those comments on 
the FTC Web site. More information, including routine uses permitted by 
the Privacy Act, may be found in the FTC's privacy policy, at https://
www.ftc.gov/ftc/privacy.htm.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Alain Sheer or Loretta Garrison, 
Bureau of Consumer Protection, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., 
Washington, DC 20580, (202) 326-3224.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to section 6(f) of the Federal 
Trade Commission Act, 38 Stat. 721, 15 U.S.C.

[[Page 28337]]

46(f), and Sec.  2.34 of the Commission Rules of Practice, 16 CFR 2.34, 
notice is hereby given that the above-captioned consent agreement 
containing a consent order to cease and desist, having been filed with 
and accepted, subject to final approval, by the Commission, has been 
placed on the public record for a period of thirty (30) days. The 
following Analysis to Aid Public Comment describes the terms of the 
consent agreement, and the allegations in the complaint. An electronic 
copy of the full text of the consent agreement package can be obtained 
from the FTC Home Page (for May 10, 2006), on the World Wide Web, at 
https://www.ftc.gov/os/2006/05/index.htm. A paper copy can be obtained 
from the FTC Public Reference Room, Room 130-H, 600 Pennsylvania 
Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20580, either in person or by calling (202) 
326-2222.
    Public comments are invited, and may be filed with the Commission 
in either paper or electronic form. All comments should be filed as 
prescribed in the ADDRESSES section above, and must be received on or 
before the date specified in the DATES section.

Analysis of Agreement Containing Consent Order To Aid Public Comment

    The Federal Trade Commission has accepted, subject to final 
approval, a consent agreement from Nations Title Agency, Inc (``Nations 
Title''), Nations Holding Company (``Nations Holding''), and 
Christopher M. Likens (``Likens'').
    The consent agreement has been placed on the public record for 
thirty (30) days for receipt of comments by interested persons. 
Comments received during this period will become part of the public 
record. After thirty (30) days, the Commission will again review the 
agreement and the comments received, and will decide whether it should 
withdraw from the agreement and take appropriate action or make final 
the agreement's proposed order.
    According to the Commission's proposed complaint, Nations Holding, 
Nations Title, and Likens provide services in connection with financing 
home purchases and refinancing existing home mortgages, including, but 
not limited to, real estate settlement services, residential closings, 
title abstracts, title commitments, appraisals, foreclosure management, 
asset disposition, and real estate management. Likens wholly owns 
Nations Holding, a subchapter ``S'' corporation, and has the authority 
to control the conduct of Nations Holding and its subsidiaries, 
including Nations Title. In providing these services, Nations Title, 
Nations Holding, and Likens (``respondents'') routinely obtain 
sensitive consumer information from banks and other lenders, real 
estate brokers, consumers, public records, and others, including but 
not limited to consumer names, Social Security numbers, bank and credit 
card account numbers, mortgage information, loan applications, purchase 
contracts, refinancing agreements, income histories, and credit 
histories (collectively, ``personal information'').
    The Commission's proposed complaint alleges that respondents failed 
to employ reasonable and appropriate security measures to protect 
personal information. In particular, the proposed complaint alleges 
that respondents have engaged in a number of practices that, taken 
together, failed to provide reasonable and appropriate security for 
consumers' personal information. Among other things, respondents failed 
to: (1) Assess risks to the information they collected and stored both 
online and offline; (2) implement reasonable policies and procedures in 
key areas, such as employee screening and training and the collection, 
handling, and disposal of personal information; (3) implement simple, 
low-cost, and readily available defenses to common website attacks, or 
implement reasonable access controls, such as strong passwords, to 
prevent a hacker from gaining access to personal information stored on 
respondents' computer network; (4) employ reasonable measures to detect 
and respond to unauthorized access to personal information or to 
conduct security investigations; and (5) provide reasonable oversight 
for the handling of personal information by service providers, such as 
third parties employed to process the information and assist in real 
estate closings.
    The proposed complaint alleges that in April 2004, a hacker 
exploited these failures by using a common Web site attack to obtain 
unauthorized access to Nations Holding's computer network. In addition, 
in February 2005, a Kansas City television station found documents 
containing sensitive personal information discarded in a dumpster used 
by respondents located in an unsecured area adjacent to their building.
    According to the complaint, respondents' practices violated the 
Gramm-Leach-Bliley (``GLB'') Safeguards Rule because respondents failed 
to: (1) Identify reasonably foreseeable internal and external risks to 
the security, confidentiality, and integrity of customer information; 
(2) design and implement information safeguards to control the risks to 
customer information and regularly test and monitor them; (3) 
investigate, evaluate, and adjust the information security program in 
light of known or identified risks; (4) develop, implement, and 
maintain a comprehensive written information security program; and (5) 
oversee service providers and require them by contract to implement 
safeguards to protect respondent's customer information.
    In addition, the proposed complaint alleges that respondents 
misrepresented that they implemented reasonable and appropriate 
measures to protect consumers' personal information from unauthorized 
access, in violation of Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act 
(``FTC Act''). Further, the proposed complaint alleges that respondents 
disseminated a privacy policy that does not accurately reflect their 
privacy policies and practices, in violation of the GLB Privacy Rule.
    The proposed order applies to personal information from or about 
consumers that respondents collect in connection with their real 
estate-related services. The proposed order contains provisions 
designed to prevent them from engaging in the future in practices 
similar to those alleged in the complaint.
    Part I of the proposed order requires that respondents not 
misrepresent the extent to which they maintain and protect the privacy, 
confidentiality, or integrity of any personal information collected 
from or about consumers.
    Part II of the proposed order requires respondents to establish and 
maintain a comprehensive information security program in writing that 
is reasonably designed to protect the security, confidentiality, and 
integrity of personal information they collect from or about consumers. 
The security program must contain administrative, technical, and 
physical safeguards appropriate to their size and complexity, the 
nature and scope of their activities, and the sensitivity of the 
personal information collected. Specifically, the order requires 
respondents to:
     Designate an employee or employees to coordinate and be 
accountable for the information security program.
     Identify material internal and external risks to the 
security, confidentiality, and integrity of consumer information that 
could result in unauthorized disclosure, misuse, loss, alteration, 
destruction, or other compromise of such information, and assess the 
sufficiency of any safeguards in place to control these risks.
     Design and implement reasonable safeguards to control the 
risks identified

[[Page 28338]]

through risk assessment, and regularly test or monitor the 
effectiveness of the safeguards' key controls, systems, and procedures.
     Evaluate and adjust their information security program in 
light of the results of testing and monitoring, any material changes to 
their operations or business arrangements, or any other circumstances 
that they know or have reason to know may have a material impact on the 
effectiveness of their information security program.
    Part III of the proposed order requires that respondents not 
violate any provision of the GLB Safeguards Rule and Privacy Rule, as 
well as the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act's Disposal Rule.
    Part IV of the proposed order requires that respondents obtain 
within 180 days, and on a biennial basis thereafter, an assessment and 
report from a qualified, objective, independent third-party 
professional, certifying, among other things, that: (1) They have in 
place a security program that provides protections that meet or exceed 
the protections required by Part II of the proposed order, and (2) 
their security program is operating with sufficient effectiveness to 
provide reasonable assurance that the security, confidentiality, and 
integrity of consumers' personal information has been protected.
    Parts V through X of the proposed order are reporting and 
compliance provisions. Part V requires respondents to retain documents 
relating to their compliance with the order. Part VI requires 
dissemination of the order now and in the future to persons with 
supervisory responsibilities relating to the subject matter of the 
order. Part VII requires Likens to notify the Commission of changes in 
his business or employment in connection with providing financial 
products or services. Part VIII requires respondents to notify the 
Commission of changes in their corporate status. Part IX mandates that 
they submit compliance reports to the FTC. Part X is a provision 
``sunsetting'' the order after twenty (20) years, with certain 
exceptions.
    The purpose of this analysis is to facilitate public comment on the 
proposed order. It is not intended to constitute an official 
interpretation of the proposed order or to modify its terms in any way.

    By direction of the Commission.
Donald S. Clark,
Secretary.
 [FR Doc. E6-7397 Filed 5-15-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P
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