Liability for Data Breach Involving Employee Information: Even the Federal Government and Third Party Vendors Are Not Immune

Liability for Data Breach Involving Employee Information: Even the Federal Government and Third Party Vendors Are Not Immune

Liability for Data Breach Involving Employee Information: Even the Federal Government and Third Party Vendors Are Not Immune

Another class action has been filed alleging the disclosure of employee personally identifiable information due to a cyber attack. This time, the employer is the federal government, and another target in the lawsuit is the third party vendor allegedly used by the federal government to conduct its background checks during the time of the breach. On June 29, 2015, the American Federation of Government Employees filed suit against the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, as well as its Director and Chief Information Officer and KeyPoint Government Solutions, on behalf of two named plaintiffs and a putative class of 18 million current and former employees and prospective employees of the federal government whose personally identifiable information was put at risk by a massive data breach suffered by OPM.

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