At a glance.
- Vice Media data breach raises questions about reporting.
- LendingTree breach lawsuit sent to arbitration.
- For Hope College, three is an unlucky number.
Vice Media data breach raises questions about reporting.
The Record by Recorded Future reports that a data breach at American-Canadian digital media company Vice Media exposed the data of over 1,700 people. According to two filings with Maine’s Attorney General, Vice first learned of a cyberattack in March 2022 and upon investigating learned that the attackers had infiltrated an internal Vice email account. Since then, the company says it has been working to determine the identities of the individuals exposed, but it’s unclear why it took nearly a year to complete this process. The compromised data include Social Security numbers, financial account numbers, and payment card data including card numbers, security codes, access codes, passwords, and account PINs. There is some confusion as to whether the two separate filings refer to two separate incidents or just one.
LendingTree breach lawsuit sent to arbitration.
A lawsuit was filed against US online lending marketplace LendingTree in connection with a data breach that occurred in February 2022. The plaintiffs claim that the company failed to adequately protect users’ financial information. Bloomberg Law reports that on Wednesday federal Magistrate Judge David S. Cayer of the US District Court for the Western District of North Carolina determined that the lawsuit should be heard by an arbitrator, as the terms of use agreed to by all LendingTree account holders included a provision requiring all disputes be sent to arbitration. Back in July LendingTree notified 70,000 customers that their data had been impacted in the breach, but the complaint says that when the company disclosed the incident it failed to inform customers of the full scope of the breach.
For Hope College, three is an unlucky number.
Speaking of lawsuits, on Monday Hope College, a private liberal arts institution located in the US state of Michigan, was hit with a third class-action lawsuit linked to a data breach that occurred last fall. As FOX 17 West Michigan News (WXMI) explains, the incident exposed sensitive student data including names, dates of birth, and Social Security numbers. Two lawsuits were filed in December in which the plaintiffs accused the school of negligence, claiming victims were not informed about the breach in a timely fashion. One of those suits is requesting $5 million in damages. This third suit accuses the school of negligence as well as breaching fiduciary duty, unjust enrichment, breaching an implied contract and violating the Michigan Consumer Protection Act. When asked for a response back in December, Hope College stated that it “can not comment on pending litigation” but said that the school had conducted a thorough investigation and had reported the matter to federal law enforcement.