American Bar Association Allegedly Responsible for March 2023 Data Breach Affecting 1.4M Members

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A proposed class action lawsuit claims cost-cutting by the American Bar Association (ABA) is to blame for a March 2023 data breach that compromised the personal information of up to 1.4 million members.

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The 18-page lawsuit alleges that the legal association’s inadequate cybersecurity “allowed widespread and systematic theft” of members’ private data by a hacker who purportedly gained access to the ABA’s network between March 6 and March 17 of this year. The suit says that the compromised data included members’ names, addresses, email addresses and phone numbers.

The organization’s cybersecurity protocols fell far short of the reasonable standard necessary to sufficiently protect members’ personal information, the complaint claims. The filing contends that although the inadequate data security may have provided the defendant with “fleeting benefits in the form of saving on the costs of compliance,” the purported savings were “to the severe detriment of its own customers,” as cybercriminals have apparently “wasted no time in putting [the stolen data] to nefarious use.”

As the case tells it, the ABA “grossly failed to comply with security standards and allowed its customers’ financial information to be compromised, all in an effort to save money by cutting corners on security measures that could have prevented or mitigated the [breach].”

According to the lawsuit, the ABA failed to notify data breach victims in a timely manner and clearly disclose to impacted individuals the nature and full extent of the incident. By failing to do so, the suit argues, the ABA has “prevented [victims] from protecting themselves.”

The plaintiff, a New York resident and registered member since August 2018, received the data breach notice that the ABA emailed to victims, the case says. Like other victims, the woman is now at a much greater risk of financial fraud and identity theft as a result of the ABA’s conduct, the complaint charges.

The lawsuit looks to represent anyone in the United States who registered an account with the American Bar Association.

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