GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) — Greensboro College is the defendant in a class-action lawsuit regarding its response to a data breach that involved highly sensitive information.
On Feb. 5, 2024, Greensboro College said it completed a review of the data breach of its computer systems. The breach took place between Aug. 10, 2023, through Aug. 21, 2023.
The college says it initiated the review after it “detected potentially malicious activity related to some of its computer systems” and that it “responded promptly” after becoming aware of the breach.
Sensitive information such as Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, state identification numbers, financial account information, dates of birth, passport numbers, medical information and health insurance information were among the sensitive data involved.
In March 2024, Greensboro College was named as the defendant in a class-action lawsuit regarding their handling of the data breach.
The lawsuit alleges that the school first became aware of the data breach “in or around August 2023” and did not notify anyone who was impacted until Feb. 29 and that over 52,000 people suffered “injury and ascertainable losses” as a result of the data breach.
The lawsuit also claims that Greensboro College remains in possession of the compromised data which “remains vulnerable to additional hackers and theft,” and that the data breach was caused by Greensboro College’s “failure to implement adequate and reasonable cyber-security procedures and protocols.”
The lawsuit also alleges that Greensboro College harmed the victims of the data breach in its decision to wait six months to notify them about it as the victims “would be in a better position to protect themselves” had it been reported when it first discovered.
You can read the lawsuit in full here.
