Meyer Corporation Facing Class Action Over October 2021 Data Breach

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Meyer Corporation faces a proposed class action lawsuit over an October 2021 data breach in which the personal information of at least 2,747 current and former employees was reportedly compromised.

The 21-page case alleges the cookware manufacturer failed to adequately safeguard employees’ information and train workers on reasonable cybersecurity protocols. Moreover, the lawsuit claims that Meyer waited nearly four months after discovering the breach to notify those whose information was affected.

In the meantime, cybercriminals publicly claimed responsibility for the incident and even published some of the data “to prove what they had done,” the suit relays.

The case says the information exposed during the Meyer data breach included current and former employees’ names; addresses; dates of birth; gender and race details; Social Security and driver’s license numbers; medical information, including conditions, prior drug tests, and COVID vaccination cards and statuses; immigration status; and dependents’ personal information.

According to the suit, Meyer discovered around October 25, 2021 that cybercriminals had accessed its systems and impacted the company’s operations. Per the case, it is not known how long employees’ personal information was exposed before the breach was detected.

In early November 2021, a cybercriminal syndicate known as the Conti ransomware group, the complaint states, publicly claimed responsibility for the breach and published at least two percent of the stolen data online. 

The lawsuit says that Meyer finished its investigation into the incident by early December yet waited until February 15, 2022 to notify those whose information was compromised.

Per the case, the data breach notice sent to victims “revealed little” about the incident and misleadingly informed employees that Meyer had “no evidence that [their] specific information was actually accessed or impacted,” even though the Conti group had already published some of the data.

“Meyer’s Breach Notice does not explain how the hack happened, why it took so long for Meyer to discover it, that cybercriminals have posted employee [personally identifiable information] online, what exactly cybercriminals stole, and why it took Meyer nearly 4 months to disclose the breach in a bare-bones notice,” the complaint scathes.

The suit takes further issue with Meyer’s offer of 24 months of free credit monitoring, arguing that it “fails to adequately address the lifelong threat the Data Breach poses to impacted employees.”

The lawsuit looks to represent California residents whose personally identifiable information was compromised in the data breach disclosed by Meyer in February 2022.

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