Patelco Credit Union faces two class action lawsuits following a ransomware attack that compromised customer data and disrupted services. The lawsuits accuse the credit union of negligence in protecting customer information and failing to provide timely notification of the breach.
Consumers Affected: Patelco Credit Union customers whose personal information was exposed in the data breach.
Reason for Lawsuit: Allegations of negligence in data security practices, failure to encrypt data, delayed notification of the breach, and lack of transparency regarding the extent of the damage and remedial actions taken.
Court: The class action lawsuits were filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
Patelco Credit Union is facing two class action lawsuits in California following a ransomware attack that disrupted online banking and other services for over a week.
Two class action lawsuits have been filed against the Dublin-based credit union, alleging serious failures in protecting customer data, Pleasanton Weekly reports.
The first lawsuit, filed by plaintiff Eileen Poluck, claims that Patelco was “reckless in not securing its systems and email servers so as to prevent the breach of such important data.”
The complaint alleges that the data breach exposed customers' sensitive personal information, including Social Security numbers and account details, Kron4 reports.
Poluck alleges that Patelco neglected to follow necessary protocols for data encryption and failed to notify customers promptly, preventing them from taking corrective measures.
“Our class action litigation sought damages for all victims of this breach,” the lawsuit states, “not the least of which being for the potential years of effort many of the impacted individuals will undoubtedly expend determining the full impact of this breach on their own privacy and/or creditworthiness.”
A second class action was filed by Livermore resident Josh Warren on behalf of himself and other affected customers.
This lawsuit echoes similar allegations as Poluck’s claims, accusing Patelco of failing to secure personal information and exposing it to unauthorized third parties.
Both cases emphasize the inconvenience and frustration caused by the breach and subsequent service outages.
They point out that Patelco's customers have been forced to travel to various ATM locations for transactions, incurring out-of-pocket expenses.
The lawsuits also criticize Patelco for withholding detailed information about the breach and the measures taken to address it.
“Noticeably absent from the Notice Email are details of the root cause of the Data Breach, the vulnerabilities that were exploited, and the remedial measures that Patelco undertook to ensure such a breach does not happen again,” Warren states.
“To date, these critical facts have not been explained or clarified to Plaintiff or the Class Members, who have a vested interest in ensuring that their (personal identifying information) remains protected.”
Patelco CEO Erin Mendez has assured customers that the credit union is making progress in restoring services. She reportedly stated that the organization expects to catch up on processing transactions shortly, and will provide updates as more information becomes available.
A case management conference for the Warren lawsuit is scheduled for October 3. The conference for the Poluck lawsuit is set for October 16. Both cases are being heard in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
Meanwhile, First Financial Credit Union has agreed to pay a $1.6 million settlement after a data breach impacted members from Jan. 17, 2022 through Feb. 6, 2022.
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