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The Federal Trade Commission's authority to regulate cybersecurity was confirmed by a U.S. appeals court in Philadelphia on Monday.

Reuters reported the FTC may now pursue a lawsuit against hotel operator Wyndham Worldwide Corp for not protecting consumers' sensitive data.

The legal case stemmed from three data breaches at the hotel chain in 2008 and 2009, which resulted in more than $10.6 million in fraudulent charges. A court ruled in April 2014 that the FTC could pursue the case – this latest decision upheld that ruling.

In related news, in February, the Obama administration proposed allowing the FTC the authority to regulate companies' data collection practices.

Earlier this month, the FTC charged a data broker operation with illegally selling sensitive information from payday loan applicants to scammers, who then made fraudulent charges and stole millions from the applicants' accounts.