A student of Whitworth University has brought a class action against the university for not keeping student and staff data safe from a ransomware attack that occurred in 2022..
The legal case was slapped against the institute for causing unnecessary anxiety over the loss of privacy and about potential abuse of the data.
Patrick Loyola is the student who filed the suit as the University failed to protect the data storage servers that stored highly sensitive information about former and present students.
Since a breach of violation was witnessed regarding the Washington Consumer Protection Act, the lawsuit obtained importance and could revolutionize the future course of action taken against all cyber-criminal gangs that spread file-encrypting malware and encrypt the servers until a ransom is paid in cryptocurrency.
If we take history into account, a patient of a hospital filed a lawsuit against healthcare for failing to treat her in an emergency, as all the digital information holding systems were compromised in July 2020.
A student has launched legal action against an educational institute in the latest case.
NOTE 1– In August 2022, Whitworth released an official statement that it fell prey to a malware attack that led to fraudulent access of over ONE Terabyte of data. LockBit group was suspected to be behind the incident and a few media resources reported that Whitworth bowed down to the demands of hackers and so could recover the siphoned data on time.
NOTE 2– According to a GuidePoint Security latest GRIT Report, new ransomware groups are emerging into the scene every month, as the operations of old ones are subsiding for various reasons. Malas, 8Base, Rancoz, Blacksuit, Big Gamer, Bolt, Steward, MobileMal are some of the newly released malware versions that can wipe out the encrypted server if the situation demands.
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