William J. Cook

Bill Cook is a partner in the Intellectual Property Department of Wildman Harrold. He divides his time between internal investigations, data security counseling and litigation. His civil practice includes internal investigations into theft of trade secrets, industrial espionage, computer intrusions and civil proceedings. Since joining Wildman Harrold, he has been involved in white collar criminal matters concerning health care fraud, defense contracting fraud and violations of U.S. export restrictions, mail fraud and numerous other substantive areas.

In the past two years he has conducted complex, internal investigations into alleged violations of Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards by Fortune 500 oil, health, office supply and sporting goods companies, as well as health club and fashion retailers. Following the internal investigations he handled settlement negotiations with Visa and MasterCard, and represented the retailers before the FTC in Washington. He has also conducted internal investigations into data theft from an international telecommunications manufacturer as a result of vendor vulnerabilities resulting in a subsequent favorable settlement.

In 2008 and 2009, Bill was recognized in Chambers USA for his work in the area of Privacy & Data Security. In May 2009, he was appointed receiver by Judge John Grady over a multi-million dollar telephony companies accused of telemarketing fraud by the FTC.

Representative Experience:

Corporate counseling regarding business continuity planning, export and import regulations, regulatory compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404, Gramm-Leach-Bliley, HIPAA and other federal security standards
Counseling regarding all aspects of payment, credit card industry standards (including PCI, CISP, SDP, DSOP, DISC, and AIS), and related liability exposures
Internal corporate investigations involving industrial espionage, computer intrusions and corporate security audits
Electronic discovery
Competitive intelligence issues surrounding corporate efforts to monitor their competitive environment and the resulting liability issues
Intellectual property litigation including trade secrets, copyrights, patents, privacy rights, industrial espionage and unfair competition
E-commerce issues including privacy, advertising, copyrights, trademarks, database protection, domain name transfers and IP protection

Publications And Presentations:

Presenter, "Data Breaches: Lessons Learned and Guidelines for Developing an Incident Response Plan," PLI 10th Annual Institute on Privacy & Security Law, July 21, 2009.
Presenter, "Internal Investigations and Breach Liability" IDGA Cyber Security Conference for National Defense Contractors, Washington, D.C., May 19, 2009.
Presenter, "Current Information Security Threats and Security Laws and Liabilities," International Corporate Executive Program, London, May 7, 2009.
Presenter, "Internal Investigation Of PCI Compliance and Data Breaches," VeriSign's Corporate Briefing Series, Rosemont, IL, March 26, 2009.
Presenter, "Internal Investigations into Data Breaches and Liability Exposures," Litigation Management Super Course, Network of Trial Law Firms, Carefree, AZ, October 31, 2008.
Presenter, President's National Security and Telecommunications Committee, "Internet Liability and Future Issues," Washington, DC, November 2007.
Presenter, "Internet Liability Issues," Executive Forum of the International Computer Emergency Response Teams, Boston, November 2007.
Presenter, "Internet Law and Liability Circa 2007," Northwestern University, October 2007.
Presenter, "Internet Privacy and Liability," International Association of Privacy Professionals, New York, June 2007.
Presenter, "Scope of HIPAA and Internet Liability," Marsh Health Care Liability Conference, Geneva, IL, June 2007.
Presenter, "Internet Security Standards and Enforcement," Remington Security Roundtable, Rosemont, IL, May 2007.
Presenter, "Payment Card Industry Security Standards," Petroleum Industry Attorneys, Washington, D.C., April 2007.
Presenter, "Legal Aspects of the Payment Card Industry Standards," PCI Expert Forum, San Francisco, CA, March 2007.
Presenter, "Data Security Liability," National Science Foundation Cybersecurity Summit, Washington, DC, February 2007.
Presenter, "Online Fraud," CLE Cyber Law Forum, San Francisco, CA, Nov. 2006.
Keynote Presenter, Information Security Decisions Conference, Chicago, Il, 2006.
Author, “The Long Arm of the Law,” CSO Magazine, September 2004.
Author, “Dangerous Waters: Denial of Service Attacks,” CSO Magazine, August 2004.
Author, “Shadow Sites: Corporate FTP Sites,” CSO Magazine, July 2004.
Author, “Open Secrets,” CSO Magazine, June 2004.
Author, “A Foreseeable Future,” CSO Magazine, May 2004.
Author, “Protecting Private Information, The Compliance Case for User-Friendly Cryptography,” Optimize Magazine, May 2004.
Presenter, “Closing Keynote: Over the Regulatory Horizon,” Information Week Media Network Compliance Conference, May 2004.
Presenter, “Staying Out of the Headlines: Tracking Potential Risk,” Forbes CFO Forum, May 2004.
Interview, “Firms See Growth in Computer Security Practice Groups,” Chicago Lawyer, May 2004.
Presenter, “Critical Information Protection and Internet Liability,” Accenture, April 2004.
Presenter, “Cyber Threats: They are Real and You May Be Liable,” PricewaterhouseCoopers General Counsel Forum, April 2004.
Presenter, “Marketplace Morning Report,” Public Radio, April 2004.
Author, “The Legal Mandate In Information Protection,” Electronic Banking Law and Commerce Report, April 2004.
Presenter, “Making Compliance Pay Off,” Information Week Spring 2004, March 2004.
Author, “Who Is Liable?” CSO Magazine, March 2004.
Author, “Courts Make Users Liable for Security Glitches," CIO Magazine, February 2004.
Presenter, “Internet Liability and the Law,” AITP Dinner, February 2004.
Presenter, “Critical Infrastructure Protection and the Law,” Federal Communication Commission Technology Advisory Council on National Research Council book, January 2004.

Professional Associations:

Expert witness on Internet and computer law before U.S. House Judiciary Committee and Federal Communications Commission.

USA Triathalon Association

U.S. Army Ranger Association

President of Infragard – Chicago (F.B.I. computer crime unit community reach out program) and founding member of U.S. Secret Service Chicago Electronic Crimes Task Force.

Member, National Science Foundation’s Critical Infrastructure Protection and the Law Committee (2001-2003).

Member, Illinois Commission on Electronic Commerce and Crime (July 1996).

American Bar Association

Illinois State Bar Association

Chicago Bar Association

Adjunct professor Internet and Web Law, University of Illinois Law School.

Guest lectured on Information Security Law and Liability at Harvard, Yale, Purdue, the University of Illinois, and the University of Salzburg.

Bar Admissions:

Illinois, 1975

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, 1975

U.S. Supreme Court, 1978

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, 1998

Personal Information:

Assistant U.S. Attorney, U.S. Justice Department, Chicago, Illinois 1975 to 1991

Chief Computer Crime Task Force, Regional Coordinator of Counter-Espionage and Counter-Terrorist investigations

Justice Department Representative to Regional FEMA Office

U.S. Army Infantry, 1968-1970, Airborne & Ranger Qualified, Infantry Platoon Leader, 25th Infantry Division, Republic of South Vietnam 1969-1970, Combat Infantry Badge, three Bronze Stars, two Purple Hearts, two Army Commendation Medals and Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry

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