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Cybersecurity Law

About / Terminology

This research guide is not intended to serve as a comprehensive list of all resources that are available with respect to issues related to cybersecurity, cybercrime and data privacy.  Rather, this guide is intended to serve as a starting point for your research on these issues.  This guide includes secondary and primary legal sources at the federal and state level, as well as non-legal resources published by academic institutions and advocacy organizations.  Because issues related to cybercrime, cybersecurity and data privacy are also of international concern, this guide includes links to material published by international and non-governmental institutions.

What are cybersecurity, cybercrime and data privacy?

  • Cybersecurity is the protection of electronic data and systems from attack, loss or other compromise. Electronic data and systems include governmental records, as well as investor and private firm information, and the hardware and software systems used to generate and maintain that data.
  • Cybercrime is criminal activity involving computers or the Internet.
  • Data privacy or information privacy refers to the privacy of information stored on computer systems.

A note about terminology: One thing that cybercrimecybersecurity and data privacy have in common is they all involve computers. This research guide will primarily use the terms cybercrimecybersecurity and data privacy.  However, cybercrime could also be referred to as computer crime and internet crime, for example.  Keep this in mind and vary your search terms while doing research on these topics.

General Resources

Below is a list of selected titles that are available within the Law Library's collection.

Lexis

​Cyberlaw Information: Search for primary law (cases, statutes, regulations) and secondary sources (treatises, forms and checklists, news and more). Click on:

Treatises: The books listed below are just a sample of the many materials available on Lexis.

Westlaw

Westlaw

​Cyberlaw Information: Search for primary law (cases, statutes, regulations) and secondary sources (treatises, forms and checklists, news and more). Click on:

Treatises: The books listed below are just a sample of the many materials available on Westlaw.

Bloomberg Law

Cyberlaw Information: Search for primary law (cases, statutes, regulations) and secondary sources (treatises, forms and checklists, news and more). Click on:

Treatises: The books listed below are just a sample of the many materials available on Bloomberg Law.

Databases

DATABASES

These resources are accessible to authorized Penn State users. For a complete list of  law and law-related databases, search the Law Library's A-Z Databases. For nonlegal databases, the University Libraries Databases by Title provides over 600 databases in related subjects such as business, finance, health, medicine, politics, social sciences, and more. 

​Cyberlaw Information: Search for primary law (cases, statutes, regulations) and secondary sources (treatises, forms and checklists, news and more).

  • Under Practice Areas, click on Intellectual Property.

Treatises: The books listed below are just a sample of the many materials available on CCH Cheetah.

Websites