Analysis of Proposed Consent Order to Aid Public Comment: Dave & Buster's Inc.

Federal Register: March 31, 2010 (Volume 75, Number 61)

Notices

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From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

DOCID:fr31mr10-81

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION

File No. 082 3153

Dave & Buster's, 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 April 26, 2010.

ADDRESSES: Interested parties are invited to submit written comments electronically or in paper form. Comments should refer to ``Dave &

Buster's, File No. 082 3153'' to facilitate the organization of comments. Please note that your comment -- including your name and your state -- will be placed on the public record of this proceeding, including on the publicly accessible FTC website, at (http:// www.ftc.gov/os/publiccomments.shtm).

Because comments will be made public, they should not include any sensitive personal information, such as an individual's Social Security

Number; date of birth; driver's license number or other state identification number, or foreign country equivalent; passport number; financial account number; or credit or debit card number. Comments also should not include any sensitive health information, such as medical records or other individually identifiable health information. In addition, comments should not include any ``[t]rade secret or any commercial or financial information which is obtained from any person and which is privileged or confidential. . . .,'' as provided in

Section 6(f) of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and Commission Rule 4.10(a)(2), 16 CFR 4.10(a)(2). Comments containing

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material for which confidential treatment is requested must be filed in paper form, must be clearly labeled ``Confidential,'' and must comply with FTC Rule 4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c).\1\

\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 FTC Rule 4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c).

Because paper mail addressed to the FTC is subject to delay due to heightened security screening, please consider submitting your comments in electronic form. Comments filed in electronic form should be submitted by using the following weblink: (https:// public.commentworks.com/ftc/daveandbusters) and following the instructions on the web-based form. To ensure that the Commission considers an electronic comment, you must file it on the web-based form at the weblink: (https://public.commentworks.com/ftc/daveandbusters).

If this Notice appears at (http://www.regulations.gov/search/ index.jsp), you may also file an electronic comment through that website. The Commission will consider all comments that regulations.gov forwards to it. You may also visit the FTC website at (http:// www.ftc.gov/) to read the Notice and the news release describing it.

A comment filed in paper form should include the ``Dave & Buster's,

File No. 082 3153'' 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 H-135 (Annex D), 600

Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20580. 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.

The Federal Trade Commission Act (``FTC Act'') and other laws the

Commission administers permit the collection of public comments to consider and use in this proceeding as appropriate. The Commission will consider all timely and responsive public comments that it receives, whether filed in paper or electronic form. Comments received will be available to the public on the FTC website, to the extent practicable, at (http://www.ftc.gov/os/publiccomments.shtm). As a matter of discretion, the Commission makes every effort to remove home contact information for individuals from the public comments it receives before placing those comments on the FTC website. More information, including routine uses permitted by the Privacy Act, may be found in the FTC's privacy policy, at (http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/privacy.shtm).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Katrina Blodgett (202-326-3158),

Bureau of Consumer Protection, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington,

D.C. 20580.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to section 6(f) of the Federal

Trade Commission Act, 38 Stat. 721, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and Sec. 2.34 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 March 25, 2010), on the World Wide Web, at (http://www.ftc.gov/os/ actions.shtm). A paper copy can be obtained from the FTC Public

Reference Room, Room 130-H, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington,

D.C. 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 Dave & Buster's, Inc. (``Dave &

Buster's'').

The proposed consent order 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.

Dave & Buster's owns and operates 53 restaurant and entertainment complexes in the United States. Consumers may pay for purchases at these locations with credit and debit cards (collectively, ``payment cards'') or cash. In conducting its business, Dave & Buster's routinely collects information from consumers to obtain authorization for payment card purchases, including the credit card account number, expiration date, and an electronic security code for payment authorization. This information is particularly sensitive because it can be used to facilitate payment card fraud and other consumer fraud.

The Commission's complaint alleges that since at least April 2007,

Dave & Buster's engaged in a number of practices that, taken together, failed to provide reasonable and appropriate security for personal information on its computer networks. Among other things, Dave &

Buster's: (a) failed to employ sufficient measures to detect and prevent unauthorized access to computer networks or to conduct security investigations, such as by employing an intrusion detection system and monitoring system logs; (b) failed to adequately restrict third-party access to its networks, such as by restricting connections to specific

IP addresses or granting temporary, limited access; (c) failed to monitor and filter outbound traffic from its networks to identify and block export of sensitive personal information without authorization;

(d) failed to use readily available security measures to limit access between in-store networks, such as by using firewalls or isolating the payment card system from the rest of the corporate network; and (e) failed to use readily available security measures to limit access to its computer networks through wireless access points on the networks.

The complaint further alleges that between April 30, 2007 and

August 28, 2007, an intruder, exploiting some of these vulnerabilities, connected to Dave & Buster's networks numerous times without authorization, installed unauthorized software, and intercepted personal information in transit from in-store networks to its credit card processing company. The breach compromised approximately 130,000 unique payment cards used by consumers in the United States.

The proposed order applies to personal information Dave & Buster's collects from or about consumers. It contains provisions designed to prevent Dave & Buster's from engaging in the future in practices similar to those alleged in the complaint.

Part I of the proposed order requires Dave & Buster's to establish and maintain a comprehensive information

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security program in writing that is reasonably designed to protect the security, confidentiality, and integrity of personal information collected from or about consumers. The security program must contain administrative, technical, and physical safeguards appropriate to Dave

& Buster's size and complexity, the nature and scope of its activities, and the sensitivity of the personal information collected from or about consumers. Specifically, the order requires Dave & Buster's 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 personal information that could result in the 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 through risk assessment, and regularly test or monitor the effectiveness of the safeguards' key controls, systems, and procedures.

Develop and use reasonable steps to select and retain service providers capable of appropriately safeguarding personal information they receive from respondents, and require service providers by contract to implement and maintain appropriate safeguards.

Evaluate and adjust its information security program in light of the results of the testing and monitoring, any material changes to its operations or business arrangements, or any other circumstances that it knows or has reason to know may have a material impact on the effectiveness of its information security program.

Part II of the proposed order requires that Dave & Buster's obtain within 180 days, and on a biennial basis thereafter for ten (10) years, an assessment and report from a qualified, objective, independent third-party professional, certifying, among other things, that it has in place a security program that provides protections that meet or exceed the protections required by Part I of the proposed order; and its security program is operating with sufficient effectiveness to provide reasonable assurance that the security, confidentiality, and integrity of consumers' personal information is protected.

Parts III through VII of the proposed order are reporting and compliance provisions. Part III requires Dave & Buster's to retain documents relating to its compliance with the order. For most records, the order requires that the documents be retained for a five-year period. For the third-party assessments and supporting documents, Dave

& Buster's must retain the documents for a period of three years after the date that each assessment is prepared. Part IV requires dissemination of the order now and in the future to principals, officers, directors, and managers at corporate headquarters, regional offices, and at each store having responsibilities relating to the subject matter of the order. Part V ensures notification to the FTC of changes in corporate status. Part VI mandates that Dave & Buster's submit an initial compliance report to the FTC, and make available to the FTC subsequent reports. Part VII is a provision ``sunsetting'' the order after twenty (20) years, with certain exceptions.

The purpose of the analysis is to aid 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. 2010-7127 Filed 3-30-10: 1:29 pm

BILLING CODE 6750-01-S