Builders Mutual Insurance Company Facing Class Action Over Cyberattack Affecting 64K

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A proposed class action claims negligent cybersecurity on the part of Builders Mutual Insurance Company resulted in a “foreseeable” data breach announced in September 2023.

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According to the 50-page lawsuit, the Raleigh, North Carolina-based commercial insurance company detected suspicious activity on some of its computer systems on December 14, 2022. A subsequent investigation revealed that an unauthorized third party had accessed the network and certain files stored therein between December 14 and 15 of that year, the suit shares.

The case relays that the data breach impacted more than 64,000 current and former Builders Mutual employees and claimants of client businesses, whose private information, the complaint contends, is now “in the hands of data thieves and other unauthorized third parties.”

Per the filing, the sensitive data compromised in the Builders Mutual cyberattack included at least individuals’ names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers and workers’ compensation information.

The lawsuit charges that the incident stemmed from the defendant’s failure to utilize reasonable cybersecurity protocols and adequately monitor its computer network.

“Had Builders Mutual properly monitored its network systems and implemented such practices, it could have prevented the Data Breach or at least discovered it sooner,” the suit says.

In addition, although the company purports to have learned of the incident in December 2022, it waited until late September 2023—more than nine months later—to begin sending notice letters to victims, the case points out.

“As a result of this delayed response, [the plaintiffs] and Class Members had no idea for almost an entire year that their Private Information had been compromised, and that they were, and continue to be, at significant risk of identity theft and various other forms of personal, social, and financial harm,” the complaint states. “The risk will remain for their respective lifetimes.”

To make matters worse, Builders Mutual, aside from providing impacted individuals with one year of credit monitoring—a gesture which the suit claims is inadequate in its own right—has offered “no substantive steps to help victims … protect themselves,” the filing argues.

The lawsuit looks to represent anyone in the United States whose private information was accessed or acquired as a result of the Builders Mutual data breach, including those who were sent a notice of the incident.

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