Data Breach Class Actions
Data security breaches are becoming more common every year. When a company fails to properly protect data under its control and hackers or unauthorized individuals gain access to that information, those who have been affected may have the option of banding together and filing a class action lawsuit against the company responsible for the data security breach.
Research indicates that malicious outsiders cause the largest percentage of data security breaches and account for the majority of all compromised data. Furthermore, identity theft breaches continue to be the leading type of data security breach. Although most types of businesses can be victims of data breaches, the industries most affected by data breaches include healthcare, retail, social media, government, and professional services.
Remedies sought in data breach class actions generally include one or more of the following: (a) subscription to a credit monitoring service and/or identity theft insurance for some period of time (regularly 12-36 months); (b) reimbursement for out-of-pocket losses due to the data breach; (c) compensation for time spent responding to the data breach; and/or (d) court ordered enhancements to the defendant’s data security measures and/or data breach response protocols.
Below is a current list of data security breaches under investigation by Abington Cole + Ellery: