Accutech Systems Facing Class Action Over August 2021 Data Breach

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Accutech Systems Corporation faces a proposed class action that claims the trust and wealth management services company failed to take reasonable steps to secure clients’ information prior to a data breach last summer.

The 33-page lawsuit centers on what’s described as a “massive and preventable cyberattack” that occurred in mid-August 2021 and resulted in the exposure of Accutech clients’ personally identifiable information. According to the suit, the information compromised in the breach included consumers’ full names, addresses and Social Security numbers.

The case claims Accutech could have prevented the data breach by employing appropriate cybersecurity practices and protocols, including by encrypting or more securely encrypting its servers and clients’ personal and financial information. Per the suit, the defendant failed to maintain its data in a manner consistent with industry standards and “intentionally, willfully, recklessly, or negligently” disregarded its clients’ privacy rights. As a result, consumers’ information has landed in the hands of “an undoubtedly nefarious” third party who likely looks to profit from the data by subjecting victims to identity theft and fraud, the lawsuit alleges.

As the suit tells it, Accutech discovered on August 16, 2021 that its network had been accessed through an employee email account by an unauthorized actor. Per the case, although the defendant claimed to have discovered what specific information was accessed by December 27, it failed to begin to notify victims until January 11, 2022, nearly five months after the incident occurred. The plaintiff claims to have received a notice of the breach that was dated January 28, 2022.

The lawsuit alleges Accutech failed to satisfy its obligation to safeguard client data under common law, reasonable industry standards, state law and its own privacy representations. According to the case, data breach victims remain to this day “in the dark” regarding what specific data was accessed, what malware was used and what steps, if any, Accutech has taken to prevent its system from being accessed in the future.

“Representative Plaintiff and Class Members are left to speculate as to the full impact of the Data Breach and how exactly Defendant intended to enhance its information security systems and monitoring capabilities so as to prevent further breaches,” the complaint states.

The lawsuit claims those whose data was exposed during the breach now face a heightened risk of identity theft and fraud or the possibility that their information may end up in the hands of companies who will use it for targeted advertising without their consent, according to the suit.

“Either way, unauthorized individuals can now easily access the [personally identifiable information] and/or financial information of Representative Plaintiff and Class Members,” the lawsuit says.

The case looks to represent anyone in the U.S. whose personally identifiable information and/or financial information was exposed to unauthorized third parties as a result of the Accutech Systems data breach that occurred on August 16, 2021.

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