MADISON, Wis.—A cybersecurity incident at TruStage earlier this month has led to a growing number of investigations and client solicitations by plaintiffs’ law firms seeking potential claimants for future litigation.
As the CU Daily reported here, TruStage has said it believes the download of a malicious file by one of its employees has led to the shutdown in its systems and that it expects a “phased restoration process” that will take weeks to occur.
As the CU Daily was first to report, Greenville, Penn. -based Bessemer System Federal Credit Union was first to file a class action lawsuit in federal court against TruStage Financial Group that alleges that TruStage failed to implement and maintain adequate, industry-standard cybersecurity safeguards, culminating in the cybersecurity incident TruStage disclosed on July 15.
Now, at least three prominent class action law firms or legal referral organizations—ClaimDepot, Open Class Actions and ClassAction.org—have established dedicated webpages inviting individuals who believe they were affected by the incident to submit information for potential legal action.
In addition, as reported here, Shamis & Gentile, a class action law firms specializing in data breach cases, said it is investigating First Commonwealth Federal Credit Union in Pennsylvania regarding a “data breach,” although to date TruStage has not confirmed there has been a breach of member data at any credit union.
What Online Organizations are Doing
ClaimDepot has published both an investigation page and a separate data breach information page related to the incident. The firm says it is investigating whether affected individuals may have legal claims if sensitive information was exposed or if the company failed to adequately safeguard data. The website encourages potentially affected consumers to contact the firm for a free case review.
Open Class Actions has created a page devoted to what it describes as the TruStage data breach class action investigation, summarizing what is publicly known about the cyber incident, identifying the first lawsuit filed against the company, and inviting affected individuals to register for updates should additional litigation or settlements emerge. The site notes that no settlement currently exists and that investigations remain in the early stages.
ClassAction.org likewise has listed the TruStage incident among active data breach investigations, encouraging consumers who may have been affected to contact attorneys to determine whether they could participate in future litigation if evidence emerges that personal information was compromised.
As the CU Daily has previously reported, such investigations are common following major cybersecurity incidents and do not necessarily indicate that additional lawsuits will be filed..
