Alston & Bird Welcomes Data Security Expert

Zoe Tillman

Legal Times

2013-01-17 14:46:29.0

Alston & Bird announced Monday that Kimberly Peretti, a former director of cyberforensics for PricewaterhouseCoopers and a former cybercrimes prosecutor, had joined the firm as a partner in the Washington office.

Peretti will co-chair the firm's security incident management and response team and also be part of the government investigations team. According to the firm, her expertise spans data breach investigations, information security, corporate compliance, and cyberlaw.

Companies "need to fully understand the cyberthreat, the losses that can occur from these data breaches," Peretti said in a phone interview Monday. "A decade ago, we had solo hackers attacking systems. In and out with one purpose and it was easy to detect and it was easy to respond to. Now we're just in a very different era of cybercrime."

Before joining PricewaterhouseCoopers in 2010, Peretti spent eight years as a senior litigator in the U.S. Department of Justice's computer crime and intellectual property section. She said she was looking forward to bringing her experience as an investigator and former prosecutor to the firm's security incident response and management group, which she said is "at the forefront of the market."

At the Justice Department, Peretti led cybercrime investigations and prosecutions, including the prosecution of hacker Albert Gonzalez in what was considered the largest identity theft case prosecuted by the DOJ.

"Kim is a heavyweight in the cybersecurity arena, and instantly strengthens our ability to represent clients in a wide range of complex, cutting-edge data management and privacy matters as well as data breach response and cyber investigations," firm managing partner Richard Hays said in a statement, noting that data management and privacy was a top area of concern for corporate general counsel.

First reported in The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times.