Blackhawk Network Hit with Class Action Over Sept. 2022 MyPrepaidCenter.com Data Breach

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A proposed class action alleges Blackhawk Network is at fault for a “foreseeable” data breach that hit MyPrepaidCenter.com in September, affecting thousands of consumers. 

The 34-page lawsuit scathes that the global branded payment company’s failure to prevent and detect the incident is “particularly egregious” considering the nature of its business—operating MyPrepaidCenter.com, where Pathward N.A. customers can activate and manage prepaid gift cards—and the variety of private information it collects and stores. Moreover, similar data breaches around the country and Blackhawk Network’s own experience with such incidents should have prompted the company to take further precautions to secure its data, the case alleges. 

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According to the lawsuit, information exfiltrated from Blackhawk Network, who does business as Blackhawk Engagement Solutions, included consumers’ unencrypted and unredacted first and last names, email addresses, phone numbers, payment card data, and other sensitive details on their MyPrepaidCenter.com profiles relating to Pathward prepaid cards, such as card numbers, expiration dates and CVV codes. 

Per the case, Blackhawk has claimed that it “blocked [consumers’] impacted Pathward Prepaid Card(s)” yet has remained silent on what happened to the information stolen during the data breach. 

The lawsuit relays that Blackhawk filed notice of the data breach with the Montana attorney general on October 31. The notice stated that Blackhawk discovered on September 11 “irregular activity” in connection with MyPrepaidCenter.com, and consumers were informed that the “unauthorized acquisition” of their information occurred sometime between September 4 and 12, the suit says. 

The filing charges that as a result of Blackhawk’s failure to prevent or detect the incident, thousands of MyPrepaidCenter.com users nationwide have and will continue to incur “real and imminent harm,” including unauthorized charges on their payment cards, theft of their personal data, loss of use and access to financial accounts, loss of time spent dealing with the consequences of the cyberattack, and the long-term risks they will face given that their sensitive data is in the hands of cybercriminals. 

According to the complaint, Blackhawk Network previously experienced a data breach in August 2020, when it detected improper activity on GiftCards.com. Per the case, an array of private information similar to that affected during the September 2022 breach was stolen during that incident. 

“Given Blackhawk’s recent experience with data breaches, it should have been even more aware and taken further precautions to secure [personally identifiable information] and other private information,” the suit argues. 

The filing contends that Blackhawk’s “substantial delay” in notifying data breach victims robbed the consumers of their ability to promptly mitigate potential consequences from the incident, ramping up the risk of fraud.

The case looks to represent all persons Blackhawk Network identified as among those who were impacted by the September 2022 data breach, including all individuals who received notice of the incident. 

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