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Mark Young

Mark Young is an experienced tech regulatory lawyer and a vice-chair of Covington’s Data Privacy and Cybersecurity Practice Group. He advises major global companies on their most challenging data privacy compliance matters and investigations. Mark also leads on EMEA cybersecurity matters at the firm. In these contexts, he has worked closely with some of the world’s leading technology and life sciences companies and other multinationals.

Mark has been recognized for several years in Chambers UK as "a trusted adviser - practical, results-oriented and an expert in the field;" "fast, thorough and responsive;" "extremely pragmatic in advice on risk;" “provides thoughtful, strategic guidance and is a pleasure to work with;” and has "great insight into the regulators." According to the most recent edition (2024), "He's extremely technologically sophisticated and advises on true issues of first impression, particularly in the field of AI."

Drawing on over 15 years of experience, Mark specializes in:

  • Advising on potential exposure under GDPR and international data privacy laws in relation to innovative products and services that involve cutting-edge technology, e.g., AI, biometric data, and connected devices.
  • Providing practical guidance on novel uses of personal data, responding to individuals exercising rights, and data transfers, including advising on Binding Corporate Rules (BCRs) and compliance challenges following Brexit and Schrems II.
  • Helping clients respond to investigations by data protection regulators in the UK, EU and globally, and advising on potential follow-on litigation risks.
  • Counseling ad networks (demand and supply side), retailers, and other adtech companies on data privacy compliance relating to programmatic advertising, and providing strategic advice on complaints and claims in a range of jurisdictions.
  • Advising life sciences companies on industry-specific data privacy issues, including:
    • clinical trials and pharmacovigilance;
    • digital health products and services; and
    • engagement with healthcare professionals and marketing programs.
  • International conflict of law issues relating to white collar investigations and data privacy compliance (collecting data from employees and others, international transfers, etc.).
  • Advising various clients on the EU NIS2 Directive and UK NIS regulations and other cybersecurity-related regulations, particularly (i) cloud computing service providers, online marketplaces, social media networks, and other digital infrastructure and service providers, and (ii) medical device and pharma companies, and other manufacturers.
  • Helping a broad range of organizations prepare for and respond to cybersecurity incidents, including personal data breaches, IP and trade secret theft, ransomware, insider threats, supply chain incidents, and state-sponsored attacks. Mark’s incident response expertise includes:
    • supervising technical investigations and providing updates to company boards and leaders;
    • advising on PR and related legal risks following an incident;
    • engaging with law enforcement and government agencies; and
    • advising on notification obligations and other legal risks, and representing clients before regulators around the world.
  • Advising clients on risks and potential liabilities in relation to corporate transactions, especially involving companies that process significant volumes of personal data (e.g., in the adtech, digital identity/anti-fraud, and social network sectors.)
  • Providing strategic advice and advocacy on a range of UK and EU technology law reform issues including data privacy, cybersecurity, ecommerce, eID and trust services, and software-related proposals.
  • Representing clients in connection with references to the Court of Justice of the EU.
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In the final quarter of 2024, there have been significant developments in the EU cybersecurity legal landscape. Most prominently, the EU institutions adopted the Cyber Resilience Act and mid-October marked the deadline for Member States to transpose the NIS2 Directive into national law. Most Member States failed to meet the NIS2 transposition deadline, which resulted in the European Commission sending a formal notice to 23 Member States, urging them to transpose the Directive. These 23 Member States have been given two months to respond. (For more information on the Cyber Resilience Act and NIS2 Directive, see our blog posts here and here.)Continue Reading Three Recent Developments in the EU Cyber Landscape

In the past few weeks, there have been significant developments relating to the “legitimate interests” legal basis under Article 6(1)(f) of the GDPR:

  • On 4 October 2024, the Court of Justice of the EU (“CJEU”) handed down its judgment in a case relating to the Royal Dutch Lawn
… Continue Reading Five key takeaways from recent EU developments on the GDPR’s “legitimate interests” legal basis

The UK Government has announced that it intends to introduce the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill (the “Bill”) to Parliament in 2025. Formally proposed as part of the King’s Speech in July, this Bill is intended to strengthen the UK’s cross-sectoral cyber security legislation to better protect the UK’s economy and infrastructure. This Bill will update the existing NIS Regulations, which derive from EU law. Part of the UK Government’s motivation seems to be to keep pace with updates to EU law in this area, specifically relating to the NIS2 Directive that starts to apply this month (see our blog post on this, here).Continue Reading What to expect from the UK’s Cyber Security and Resilience Bill (and when)

Last month, the European Commission published a draft Implementing Regulation (“IR”) under the EU’s revised Network and Information Systems Directive (“NIS2”). The draft IR applies to entities in the digital infrastructure sector, ICT service management and digital service providers (e.g., cloud computing providers, online marketplaces, and online social networks). It sets out further detail on (i) the specific cybersecurity risk-management measures those entities must implement; and (ii) when an incident affecting those entities is considered to be “significant”. Once finalized, it will apply from October 18, 2024.

Many companies may be taken aback by the granular nature of some of the technical measures listed and the criteria to determine if an incident is significant and reportable – especially coming so close to the October deadline for Member States to start applying their national transpositions of NIS2.

The IR is open for feedback via the Commission’s Have Your Say portal until July 25.Continue Reading NIS2: Commission Publishes Long-Awaited Draft Implementing Regulation On Technical And Methodological Requirements And Significant Incidents

In six months’ time, on 17 October 2024, Member State laws that transpose the EU’s revised Network and Information Systems Directive (“NIS2”) will start to apply.  As described in more detail in our earlier blog post (here), NIS2 significantly expands the categories of organizations that fall within scope of EU cybersecurity legislation. This new, cross-sector law imposes additional and more granular security and incident reporting rules, enhanced governance requirements that apply to organizations’ “management bodies,” and creates a stricter enforcement regime.Continue Reading NIS2 implementation enters the final stretch – six months to deadline

Earlier this week, Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) cast their votes in favor of the much-anticipated AI Act. With 523 votes in favor, 46 votes against, and 49 abstentions, the vote is a culmination of an effort that began in April 2021, when the EU Commission first published its proposal for the Act.

Here’s what lies ahead:Continue Reading EU Parliament Adopts AI Act

Yesterday, the European Parliament approved the Cyber Resilience Act (“CRA”), which sets out cybersecurity requirements for “products with digital elements” (“PDEs”) placed on the EU market.  The term PDE is defined broadly to include both hardware and software products, such as antivirus software, VPNs, smart home devices, connected toys, and wearables.  The approved text is available here.Continue Reading The Cyber Resilience Act is One Step Closer to Becoming Law

On 6 March 2024, the ICO issued a call for views on so-called “Consent or pay” models, where a user of a service has the option to consent to processing of their data for one or more purposes (typically targeted advertising), or pay a (higher) fee to access the service without their data being processed for those purposes. This is sometimes referred to as “pay or okay”.

The ICO has provided an “initial view” of these models, stating that UK data protection law does not outright prohibit them. It also sets out factors to consider when implementing these models and welcomes the views of publishers, advertisers, intermediaries, civil society, academia and other interested stakeholders. The consultation is open until 17 April 2024.Continue Reading UK ICO Launches a Consultation on “Consent or Pay” Business Models

On 15 January 2024, the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”) announced the launch of a consultation series (“Consultation”) on how elements of data protection law apply to the development and use of generative AI (“GenAI”). For the purposes of the Consultation, GenAI refers to “AI models that can create new content e.g., text, computer code, audio, music, images, and videos”.

As part of the Consultation, the ICO will publish a series of chapters over the coming months outlining their thinking on how the UK GDPR and Part 2 of the Data Protection Act 2018 apply to the development and use of GenAI. The first chapter, published in tandem with the Consultation’s announcement, covers the lawful basis, under UK data protection law, for web scraping of personal data to train GenAI models. Interested stakeholders are invited to provide feedback to the ICO by 1 March 2024.Continue Reading ICO Launches Consultation Series on Generative AI