We bring to your attention a sampling of recent media stories involving cyber risk & privacy liability. Among the stories we’re highlighting this month: Hack That Paralyzed US Healthcare Turns Up Scrutiny on Insurer, AT&T Class Action Lawsuit Alleges Security Failures Led to Release of Social Security Numbers, Customer Data on Dark Web, and more.
Technology
CommScope Settles Data Breach Complaints for $440K
As Top Class Actions reported, plaintiffs in the case of Huffman et al. v. CommScope, Inc. of North Carolina et al. claim that besides the affected customers, the company also failed to protect its employees from the data breach. The class action suit also claims that the exposed pieces of data included social security numbers, protected health information, and financial account data. In addition, the suit claims that the company delayed notifying victims of the breach that hackers had gained access to personal identification information. Click to read entire article.
Professional Services
BerryDunn Suffers Third-Party Breach, 1M Affected
Accounting firm BerryDunn has suffered a third-party breach that revealed the personal information of over 1 million people. Click to read entire article.
Healthcare
Hack That Paralyzed US Healthcare Turns Up Scrutiny on Insurer
Lawmakers are set to question UnitedHealth’s CEO on the conglomerate’s size following what is likely the US’s largest-ever healthcare data breach. Click to read entire article.
Multiple Class Action Lawsuits Filed Against City of Hope National Medical Center Over Data Breach
Several class action lawsuits have been filed against City of Hope National Medical Center, a National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated cancer treatment and research center, over a recently disclosed data breach that exposed the protected health information of more than 827,000 individuals. Click to read entire article.
BianLian Threat Group Claims Responsibility for Cyberattack on Tennessee Eye Clinic Network
Politzer and Durocher, PLC, which does business as Optometric Physicians of Middle Tennessee (OPMT), has recently reported a hacking incident to the HHS Office for Civil Rights involving the personal and protected health information of 29,000 individuals. Click to read entire article.
Health Conglomerate Kaiser Notifies Millions of a Data Breach
The Kaiser Foundation Health Plan confirmed that 13.4 million residents had their information taken in a data breach, as per a legally required notice filed with the U.S. government on April 12. Click to read entire article.
Telecom
AT&T Class Action Lawsuit Alleges Security Failures Led to Release of Social Security Numbers, Customer Data on Dark Web
Failure to monitor its systems properly resulted in five year delay before customers were notified of AT&T security failures, lawsuit claims. Click to read entire article.
Frontier Communications Cyber Attack Shuts Down Systems, Leaks Personal Data
According to a regulatory filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Frontier Communications Parent, Inc. detected that a third party had gained unauthorized access to some of its information technology systems on April 14. The company initiated its cyber incident response protocols, which included shutting down some systems, resulting in operational disruptions. Click to read entire article.
Financial Services
Ameritas Mutual to Pay $850,000 to Settle Data Breach Lawsuit
Ameritas Mutual Holding Co. would pay up to $850,000 to settle a proposed class action alleging it failed to protect the personal information of 95,644 current and former policyholders during a May 2019 data breach, under a deal given initial approval by a federal court. Click to read entire article.
Public Entity
Coast Guard Reserve Deals With Data Breach Amid Cybersecurity Push
The Coast Guard Reserve alerted thousands of its personnel to a data breach last week, nearly three months after someone improperly sent their personally identifiable information to unapproved recipients, the service confirmed. Click to read entire article.
Oregon Sued on Behalf of 3.5 Million Whose Private Driver License, ID Card Data Was Stolen in Data Breach
A pair of Oregonians have filed a lawsuit that could force the state to pay up – to the tune of many millions of dollars – for a massive international data breach last year that victimized 3.5 million Oregon residents whose driver license and ID card information was stolen. Click to read entire article.
The Los Angeles County Department of Health Services Disclosed a Data Breach
The Los Angeles County Department of Health Services disclosed a data breach that impacted thousands of patients. Patients’ personal and health information was exposed after a phishing attack impacted over two dozen employees. Click to read entire article.
LATAM
Central Bank Argentina Data Breach: Hackers Allegedly Offer Customer Info for Sale
A threat actor purports to be selling the database of the Central Bank of Argentina on a hackers’ forum. The potential Central Bank of Argentina data breach, if proven true, poses serious implications for the financial security and privacy of countless individuals. Click to read entire article.
