Washington Post Data Breach Impacted Roughly 10K People, Class Action Suit Says

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A class action lawsuit alleges that the Washington Post is to blame for a “preventable” data breach that involved the sensitive information of current and former employees and contractors in July and August 2025.

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The 41-page data breach lawsuit contends that the months-long incident was a “direct result” of defendant WP Company LLC’s inadequate security systems. Per the complaint, the private information of approximately 10,000 employees and contractors was compromised in the Washington Post data breach, which allegedly stemmed from a “widespread vulnerability” detected within WP’s Oracle E-Business Suite.

The data breach lawsuit says that the private information potentially impacted by the data breach included, but is not limited to, employee names, ID numbers, bank account information and financial data.

“As a result of Defendant’s Data Breach, Plaintiff and thousands of Class members suffered ascertainable losses in the form of financial losses resulting from identity theft, out-of-pocket expenses, the loss of the benefit of their bargain, and the value of their time reasonably incurred to remedy or mitigate the effects of the attack,” the suit states.

The case adds that WP failed to implement industry-standard cybersecurity measures outlined by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), such as identifying all connections across computers that store sensitive information, detecting vulnerabilities in said connections, scanning networks and ports, using a firewall, and other protective measures.

Though the Post may have enacted some security measures, the complaint relays, its failure to utilize all “reasonable and appropriate measures” is an apparent violation of the Federal Trade Commission Act.

The suit goes on to highlight the “unreasonably delayed” notice sent out by the publication to class members, who were not informed that their information may have been compromised until November 12, 2025, nearly three months after the supposed end of the cyberattack.

“Defendant owed Plaintiff and Class members a common law duty to use reasonable care to avoid causing a foreseeable risk of harm to Plaintiff and the Class when obtaining, storing, using, and managing their Private Information, including taking action to reasonably safeguard such data and providing notification to Plaintiff and Class members of any breach in a timely manner so that appropriate action could be taken to minimize losses,” the case asserts.

The plaintiff, a Maryland resident, was employed by the Washington Post from 2018 to 2019 and claims to not have received a timely notice of the cyberattack. According to the lawsuit, he has noticed a consistent increase in spam calls and messaging, which he believes may be tied to the data breach.

The Washington Post class action lawsuit looks to cover all individuals whose sensitive information may have been compromised as a result of the Washington Post data breach occurring between July 10, 2025 and August 22, 2025.

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