C.R. England Hit with Class Action in Wake of 2021 Data Breach Affecting Over 224K Consumers

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C.R. England, Inc. has been hit with a proposed class action over an October 2021 data breach during which the personal information of at least 224,572 students and employees was reportedly exposed.

The 36-page case chides the refrigerated carrier and truck driver training school for its alleged failure to implement adequate cybersecurity measures. Per the suit, C.R. England’s failure to safeguard its systems has caused at least the names and Social Security numbers of current and former students and employees to be exposed to unauthorized access.

The lawsuit relays that on October 30, 2021, C.R. England discovered that it had “lost control” over the “highly sensitive” personal records stored on its systems and determined nearly six months later that hackers had gained access to students’ and employees’ confidential information.

Per the case, the data breach was a direct result of C.R. England’s negligent and inadequate cybersecurity measures. The lawsuit claims that the company had failed to use “up-to-date” security practices that could have prevented the breach.

Moreover, the case alleges C.R. England’s investigation of the incident “inexplicably dragged on for nearly six months,” with the company waiting until around May 23, 2022 to notify those whose information was compromised.

Per the suit, the data breach notice sent to victims “deliberately underplayed the breach’s severity” and stated that C.R. England had “no reason to believe” the exposed information had been “published, shared, or misused,” even though the company was well aware that cybercriminals had accessed its systems.

The lawsuit alleges the defendant’s failure to timely detect and report the data breach left victims “vulnerable to identity theft” since they received no warning to monitor their accounts and credit reports.

The case goes on to argue that C.R. England’s offer of one year of free credit monitoring is “inadequate” to protect data breach victims since it may be years before their information is misused.

“With only one year of monitoring, and no form of insurance or other protection, Plaintiff and members of the proposed Class remain unprotected from the real and long-term threats against their personal, sensitive, and private data,” the lawsuit reads.

The case looks to represent anyone in the U.S. whose personal information was compromised in the data breach discovered by C.R. England in October 2021.

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