Big Brothers Big Sisters of America Facing Class Action Over Data Breach Affecting 35K People

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Big Brothers Big Sisters of America (BBBSA) has been hit with a proposed class action over a March 2023 data breach that affected approximately 35,000 current and former program participants.

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The 64-page BBBSA data breach lawsuit relays that the nonprofit organization, which provides mentoring services for young people, experienced a “security incident” on March 28, 2023. Per the suit, a subsequent investigation concluded in November of last year that an unauthorized third party had gained access to BBBSA’s network and downloaded certain files that contained personal data.

According to the BBBSA notice letter, the data breach compromised individuals’ names, addresses and dates of birth.

The case contends the nonprofit negligently failed to use proper cybersecurity protocols to protect the confidential data, which was purportedly stored unencrypted and unredacted in BBBSA’s systems.

In addition, the complaint takes issue with the organization’s allegedly untimely and inadequate notification of victims. The notice letter—distributed to impacted individuals in late November 2023—failed to explain how cybercriminals gained access to the network, why BBBSA waited so long to inform victims about the incident and what steps are being taken to better safeguard stored data in the future, the filing shares.

“To date, these critical facts have not been explained or clarified to [the plaintiff] and Class Members, who retain a vested interest in ensuring that their [personally identifying information] remains protected,” the data breach lawsuit says.

The case claims that as a result of BBBSA’s negligence, victims are now at a greater risk of identity theft and fraud and “face years of constant surveillance of their financial and personal records, monitoring, and loss of rights.”

The lawsuit looks to represent anyone in the United States whose personal information was accessed and/or acquired by an unauthorized party as a result of the data breach reported by BBBSA in November 2023.

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