August 2023 Pacific Guardian Life Insurance Company Data Breach Triggers Class Action Lawsuit

New to ClassAction.org? Read our Newswire Disclaimer

Pacific Guardian Life Insurance Company has been hit with a proposed class action lawsuit over a cyberattack that reportedly occurred in late August 2023.

Did you receive a data breach letter from Pacific Guardian Life? Let us know here.

According to the 55-page data breach lawsuit, the life insurance company detected unusual activity within certain computer systems on September 5, 2023. Per the suit, a subsequent investigation revealed that unauthorized access to data stored in the Pacific Guardian Life environment may have occurred days earlier, on August 25.

As the case tells it, the incident compromised the private information of at least 167,103 current and former Pacific Guardian Life policyholders. The complaint says that the exposed data may have included names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, addresses, telephone numbers, driver’s license numbers and financial account or payment card details.

Want to stay in the loop on class actions that matter to you? Sign up for ClassAction.org’s free weekly newsletter here.

The filing contends that negligent cybersecurity on the company’s part is to blame for the data breach, arguing that the defendant failed to implement adequate safeguards to protect the information stored in its network.

Moreover, the lawsuit takes issue with Pacific Guardian Life’s failure to discover the intrusion until early September of last year, 11 days after cybercriminals had purportedly gained access to the company’s computer systems.

“This delayed detection provided these cybercriminals with over a week to access and steal the sensitive private information belonging to [the defendant’s] policyholders,” the suit charges.

To make matters worse, Pacific Guardian Life also waited to notify data breach victims until early April 2024, more than seven months after the incident occurred, the case shares.

The complaint alleges that the company’s failings in handling and responding to the incident have “virtually ensured” that cybercriminals could monetize or disseminate the compromised, sensitive data before victims could take steps to secure their information.

The lawsuit looks to represent anyone in the United States whose private information was accessed in the Pacific Guardian Life data breach.

Did you receive a data breach letter from Pacific Guardian Life? Let us know here.