A student at Whitworth University in Spokane says the university should have done more to protect student and staff personal information and should pay for a ransomware data breach last year.
A class action lawsuit was filed Thursday in U.S. District Court.
The lawsuit references a ransomware attack in July 2022.
Whitworth was the target of the attack which put the personal information of thousands of people at risk.
According to the lawsuit, a student named Patrick Loyola was one of those affected.
He says he's had to spend time monitoring his credit and has suffered "increased anxiety for the loss of privacy" and anxiety about the potential abuse of the information.
Loyola contends Whitworth had an obligation to safeguard personal information and that its security systems were "completely inadequate and allowed cybercriminals to obtain files containing a treasure trove of thousands of its former and current students' highly sensitive [personal information]."
He says Whitworth could have prevented the data breach by securing and encrypting its servers.
The class action lawsuit, which those impacted by the breach could join, claims Whitworth was negligent, breached an agreement to protect the information and violated the Washington Consumer Protection Act.
►Subscribe: youtube.com/4NewsNow
►Website: kxly.com
►Twitter: twitter.com/kxly4news
►Facebook: facebook.com/KXLY4News
- Student sues Whitworth University over ransomware attack ( Download)
- Howard University hit by ransomware cyberattack; classes canceled | FOX 5 DC ( Download)
- UC San Diego Health Experiences Data Breach ( Download)
- Understanding How to Protect Against Ransomware in Healthcare ( Download)
- Ransomware Chaos Hits German University of Applied Sciences (HS Kaiserslautern) | June 12 2023 ( Download)
- LIVE: ABC News Live - Friday, May 17 ( Download)
- ABC News Prime: Atlanta shooting latest; affordable housing crisis; AAPI Hollywood representation ( Download)
- ABC News Live - Thursday, May 9 ( Download)
- LIVE: ABC News Live - Friday, January 19 | ABC News ( Download)
- LIVE: ABC News Live - Tuesday, February 27 | ABC News ( Download)
- LIVE: ABC News Live - Friday, February 23 | ABC News ( Download)
- LIVE: ABC News Live - Monday, August 26 | ABC News ( Download)
- LIVE: ABC News Live - Friday, July 26 ( Download)
- Your Breaches of the Week! May 15 to May 21, 2023 ( Download)
- LIVE: ABC News Live - Monday, June 24 ( Download)
