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Background for this topic.
A fine is a monetary penalty imposed by a competent authority or court for violating a law, regulation, or legally binding requirement. In information security and privacy, it may follow inadequate safeguards for personal data, unlawful processing, failure to meet required reporting or record-keeping duties, or non-compliance with sector-specific controls. The legal basis, maximum amount, and factors such as severity, duration, negligence, cooperation, and remediation vary by jurisdiction; a fine is generally punitive rather than compensation for affected parties.
For security practitioners, a fine signals that controls and security decisions may be examined as evidence of compliance. Maintain documented risk assessments, access reviews, patching decisions, supplier oversight, logging, and retention practices, especially where they protect regulated data. During an incident, preserve relevant records and establish an accurate timeline for containment, notification, and remediation. Privacy requirements such as data minimization and retention limits can therefore be security controls as well as legal obligations. A fine does not by itself establish that a particular attack or breach occurred.
27 UK public sector organizations faced ICO enforcement actions in 2024, with three fines issued, according to URM Consulting
Don't laugh: The $4.5m fine proposed for carrier Telnyx shows how the Trump administration will run its comms regulator In its first enforcement action of the Trump presidency, the FCC has voted to propose fining Telnyx $4,492,500 – after scammers pretending to be the watchdog's staff started calling actual FCC staffers via the VoIP telco.…
The FCC has proposed a $4,492,500 fine against VoIP service provider Telnyx for allegedly allowing customers to make robocalls posing as fictitious FCC "Fraud Prevention Team," by failing to comply with Know Your Customer (KYC) rules. However, Telnyx says the FCC is mistaken and denies the accusations. [...]
Mountain View clocked onto the scheme with days to spare A Chinese national faces a substantial stint in prison and heavy fines if found guilty of several additional charges related to economic espionage and theft of trade secrets at Google.…
FIs Expected to Move from Periodic Reviews to Perpetual KYCBanks are struggling to keep up with evolving KYC expectations. Despite efforts to modernize, outdated processes continue to leave compliance gaps, leading to increased regulatory action. Penalties for financial institutions surged with KYC-related fines more than doubling to $51 million.
At the Same Time, the Total Number of Breach Notifications to Consumers IncreasedThe total amount of annual fines imposed by European privacy regulators fell in 2024 for the first time since the EU's pioneering data protection law came into effect, even as the number of data breach notifications continued to increase, report legal privacy researchers.