Brookfield Zoo Chicago Failed to Protect Employee Info from Hackers, Data Breach Lawsuit Claims

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Brookfield Zoo Chicago faces a proposed class action lawsuit over a January 2024 data breach that reportedly impacted the personal information of several thousand employees.

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The 29-page lawsuit says that the Chicago Zoological Society, which does business as Brookfield Zoo, “lost control” of sensitive employee information when cybercriminals hacked into some of the zoo’s computer systems on January 16, 2024.

The case shares that the threat actor gained access to current and former employees’ names, Social Security numbers, driver's license or state-issued ID numbers and financial account details, including credit or debit card numbers.

According to the data breach suit, a ransomware gang known as Hunters International later claimed responsibility for the incident and threatened to publish the stolen data on the dark web if the group’s ransom demand was not met.

The complaint alleges that the incident stemmed from Brookfield Zoo’s failure to use up-to-date cybersecurity practices and adequately train IT employees to prevent, detect and stop unauthorized intrusions into its network. Indeed, the filing charges that the zoo left “significant vulnerabilities in its systems for cybercriminals to exploit.”

Moreover, the lawsuit takes issue with the defendant’s allegedly untimely and insufficient data breach notice letter. Per the case, Brookfield Zoo’s notice letter—which the zoo only began to send to victims last month—failed to explain the nature of the incident, how many people were impacted or why it took the defendant approximately six months to “finally” begin notifying affected individuals.

The suit claims that victims like the plaintiff, a former zoo employee residing in Illinois, now face an ongoing risk of fraud, identity theft and other illegal schemes as a result of the theft of their private data.

The Brookfield Zoo lawsuit looks to represent anyone in the United States whose personal information was compromised in the data breach, including those who received notice of the incident.

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