Data Breach Class Action Filed Over WellNow Urgent Care, Aspen Dental 2023 Cyberattack [UPDATE]

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A proposed class action has been filed against TAG – The Aspen Group over an April 2023 data breach that affected patients of the company’s two brands, Aspen Dental and WellNow Urgent Care.

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The 41-page data breach lawsuit says TAG, WellNow and Aspen Dental failed to implement adequate safeguards to protect patients’ private information from a ransomware attack that took place around April 25, 2023. During the incident, an unauthorized party gained access to the companies’ networks and stole files containing patients’ names, dates of birth and health information, the case relays.

Although the method by which hackers infiltrated the defendants’ systems was a “known risk” to the healthcare companies, they nevertheless left consumers’ sensitive information in a “dangerous condition,” the filing claims.

The plaintiff, a New York resident who has received services at one of WellNow’s walk-in clinic facilities, says she learned her information was compromised in the breach after receiving a notice letter sent by TAG around February 22, 2024. The woman shares that she would have never obtained services from WellNow had she known her data would be maintained using improper cybersecurity practices.

“As a result of the data breach, [the plaintiff] and class members are now at a current, imminent, and ongoing risk of fraud and identity theft,” the case says. “[The plaintiff] and class members must now and for years into the future closely monitor their medical and financial accounts to guard against identity theft.”

According to the filing, there is evidence that information belonging to WellNow and Aspen Dental data breach victims has already been accessed, misused and disseminated on the dark web.

“[The defendants’] delay in identifying and reporting the data breach caused additional harm,” the complaint says. “In a data breach, time is of the essence to reduce the imminent misuse of private information.”

The lawsuit looks to represent anyone in the United States whose private information was compromised in the data breach announced by TAG – The Aspen Group in February 2024.

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