National Advisors Trust Company Failed to Protect Consumers’ Info from Data Breach, Class Action Claims

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National Advisors Trust Company (NAT) faces a proposed class action over a data breach that has reportedly affected 14,000 consumers.

Did you receive a data breach letter from National Advisors Trust Company? Let us know here.

The 28-page data breach lawsuit says that on April 17, 2023, the trust company was alerted to “suspicious emails” being sent from an employee’s company email account. An investigation revealed that cybercriminals hacked at least four employee email accounts that contained private information belonging to NAT’s clients and their customers, the case relays.

According to the filing, the incident compromised consumers’ names, Social Security numbers, financial account information and driver’s license numbers.

The suit alleges the data breach was a result of NAT’s failure to properly use up-to-date cybersecurity practices that would have otherwise protected the personal data stored on its computer systems from unauthorized access. Consequently, victims face a substantial risk of identity theft and fraud now that their private information has likely been bought and sold on the dark web, the complaint charges.

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Per the filing, “NAT’s breach differs from typical data breaches because it affects consumers who had no relationship with NAT, never sought one, and never consented to NAT collecting and storing their information.”

The plaintiff, an Ohio resident, says he’s unsure how NAT got his information but assumes it was given to the defendant by his financial advisor. The lawsuit shares the man has and will spend considerable time and effort monitoring his accounts to protect himself from any misuse of his private data, which has already come to light in the form of spam calls and texts.

The case claims the company waited an “appalling” 10 months to publicly report the incident, depriving the plaintiff and other victims of the earliest opportunity to guard themselves against the data breach’s effects.

What’s more, the data breach notice letter NAT sent to affected individuals on February 5, 2024 intentionally “obfuscated” the nature of the breach, the filing contends. For instance, the notice omits “how many people were impacted, how the breach happened on NAT’s systems, or why it took NAT ten months to begin notifying victims that hackers had gained access to highly sensitive [personally identifiable information],” the suit says.

The lawsuit looks to represent anyone in the United States whose private information was compromised in the National Advisors Trust Company data breach, including all those who received notice of the incident.

Did you receive a data breach letter from National Advisors Trust Company? Let us know here.