Data Breach Settlement Highlights Need for Proactive Management of Data Security Threats

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Lincare Inc. recently agreed to settle a class action lawsuit for $875,000. The class plaintiffs consisted of employees whose personal information was compromised in 2017. The breach involved a business email compromise scam.

The settlement amount is not the only cost to the company and in fact may cost less than implementing remedial measures (credit/identity monitoring) and IT reforms to prevent such an incident from happening in the future. For example, the settlement terms dictate that an additional two years of free credit and identity monitoring services be provided to the class plaintiffs. Furthermore, Lincare will have to perform ongoing risk assessments to ensure protected information is secured; hire and maintain an IT head to manage the processes and applications deployed to secure protected information; implement a breach response program and provide employees training about cybersecurity and data breach issues.

The Lincare class action settlement discussed above highlights the actual costs and opportunity costs associated with not having the best cybersecurity policies and programs in place. The cybersecurity lawyers at Goldberg Segalla assist clients with creating proactive policies and programs aimed at preventing data breach and responding timely and appropriately in the event of a potential data security incident.

A copy of the Settlement Agreement and Release can be found here.