On June 3, 2019, Quest Diagnostics reported that about 11.9 million patients are affected after an “unauthorized user” apparently gained access in mid-May to its billing collections vendor, American Medical Collection Agency (AMCA). AMCA provides services to Optum360, a Quest billing contractor. AMCA reported the scope of the breach May 31.

Clifford Law Offices has represented numerous consumers who have had their personal and financial data hacked, including that by medical providers. If you have been notified by Quest Diagnostics that your personal information was compromised in this recent breach of patient data, please contact Clifford Law Offices at 1-800-899-0410 or contact us online at www.CliffordLaw.com.

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Clifford Law Offices is serving as co-lead counsel in the matter against the major health care provider that stored unencrypted data containing the full names, addresses, birth dates, social security numbers, medical histories, medical diagnoses and health insurance information stored on computers in an office that was burglarized.

Four desktop computers containing this private and sensitive information of four million people was stolen from Advocate’s Park Ridge office in July, 2013.

The appellate court held on Dec. 24, 2018, that the consolidated complaints indeed stated a cause of action founded on an implied contract theory as a result of the identity theft. It reversed, in part, the trial court.

Plaintiffs alleged that Advocate had a duty to protect its patients’ private information as it had promised them through agreements that patients had expected and paid for.

“By accepting Advocate’s privacy policy in exchange for providing their sensitive information, plaintiffs accepted Advocate implicit and inescapable representation that Advocate would do something to protect that information,” the court wrote (emphasis in original). “It can be implied from the parties’ relationship that Advocate would take some steps to ensure that plaintiffs’ sensitive information would be shielded in some manner to prevent unauthorized disclosure of that information. In other words, plaintiffs’ allege that there was a meeting of the minds that plaintiffs’ sensitive information was sensitive and would be kept safe. The facts and circumstances surrounding the exchange of plaintiffs’ sensitive information could give rise to a contract implied in fact that Advocate would take some measures to ensure that plaintiffs’ sensitive information would not be disclosed to unauthorized third parties.”

The appellate court of three justices also found that plaintiffs may be entitled to damages for unjust enrichment, something that will be left to discovery and proof at trial.

“We intend to move full steam ahead on this matter on behalf of the millions of patients who suffered loss of their sensitive information through no fault off their own,” said Shannon M. McNulty, partner at Clifford Law Offices and head of the firm’s class action/mass tort practice area. “These cases are very complicated and take time, and we appreciate the patience of those who have been waiting for an answer regarding Advocate’s actions in relation to the stolen unencrypted data.”

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Uber announced (April 12, 2018) that it will be conducting annual background checks on U.S. drivers, instead of just an initial check, as well as hire a company that will regularly monitor criminal arrests in an effort to keep riders safer.

According to the website, 49 deaths, 92 assaults and 363 sexual assaults have been attributed to Uber and Lyft drivers since 2013, and it says that “Uber doesn’t even bother to meet with drivers in person before allowing them to ferry passengers.” Uber began operating in the U.S. in 2009.

Last year the company was fined $8.9 million by the state of Colorado for allowing people with serious criminal or motor vehicle offenses to work as drivers, including some with previous felony convictions or major traffic violations including drunken driving, according to a story by Associated Press.

The company’s new CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, the former CEO of Expedia, told the press that Uber conducts 15 million trips daily worldwide. He also announced an app that will become available in a couple of weeks that will allow riders to share their ride information with others as a safety precaution as well as a button to call 911 that will immediately inform dispatchers of their location.

Uber also is set to hire a company called Checkr that will conduct annual background checks, but it will not do FBI fingerprint checks. The FBI monitors felonies but not misdemeanors.

The ride-sharing company also is facing issues with a 2016 data breach of more than 20 million users that is just now coming to light. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) chastised Uber for failing to disclose the leak last year and sanctioned the company for a similar data breach that happened in 2014. The FTC took Uber to task for waiting more than a year after discovering the data breach that Bloomberg News revealed last November. It also was reported that Uber had even paid the data attackers $100,000 to delete the data and keep the breach quiet.

In the latest breach, Bloomberg News reported late last year that 25.6 million names and email addresses of U.S. riders and drivers were compromised as well as 22.1 million names and mobiles phone numbers and even hundreds of thousands of names and driver’s license numbers had been hacked, according to the FTC complaint. As a result, last week Uber agreed to an expanded new settlement with the FTC over its privacy and data security services. Under the revised settlement, Uber must submit all of its privacy audits to the FTC, and it will face civil penalties if it fails to disclose another breach.

Last year, Uber co-founder and CEO Travis Kalanick was removed in June following accusations that the company created a hostile working environment for female employees. Khosrowshahi was named chief executive officer in August and promised a transparent management style.

As the brand continues to grow globally, the new CEO predicted last year that the company may go public in 18 to 36 months.

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“Consumers should be careful of which retailers they allow to have access to their personal information,” McNulty states. Even if you have not been notified with a breach, she encourages reading the privacy policy of stores you are associated with to better understand what information is being collected of you and how long they store that information.

The Chicago personal injury lawyer also discussed how personal data becomes compromised, who is responsible for data that has been breached, what are the grounds to file a class action lawsuit, and more. Watch the full interview and learn more about breaches in data here:

Shannon McNulty is a personal injury lawyer and wrongful death attorney who has been at Clifford Law Offices since 2003. Previous to Clifford Law, she worked ten years with the administration of the Chicago Police Department, where she served as the Director of Administration in the Bureau of Operational Services. To learn more about McNulty, click here.

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The post Sally’s Beauty Supply Detected Attempt at Data Breach; Wall Street Journal Reports Beauty Supply Company CEO’s Sale of Millions in Stock “Preceded Disclosure that the Retailer is Probing an Attempted Data Breach” appeared first on Clifford Law Offices.

Michaels issued a statement that it “recently learned of possible fraudulent activity on some U.S. payment cards that had been used at Michaels, suggesting that the Company may have experienced a data security attack.”

When will this ever come to an end? Retailers are aware that hackers are out there, yet the retailers are more than happy to accept your credit card information and use it for their own marketing purposes. Perhaps they should be more proactive in looking into the Smart Chip.

That’s a credit card technology where cards are embedded with chips requiring the cardholder to put in a pin or sign for each transaction to be approved. It also is more difficult for hackers to steal the information contained in a “Smart Chip” card because the pin number is necessary.

Reportedly a more secure method, “Smart Chips” are already in use in Europe and other places around the world. Why not the U.S.? Too much money, too much trouble for the retailer? It is now the legal system trying to get answers for the consumers on these technology issues when instead it should be the retailers who are out in front.

If you have been the victim of the Target data breach, contact Clifford Law Offices to sign up for the class action lawsuit action at 312-899-9090

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Apparently memos were distributed last spring by the federal government and private research firms on the “emergence of new types of malicious computer code targeting payment terminals,” the story reported by Wall Street Journal reporters Danny Yadron, Paul Ziobro and Devlin Barrett. The response from the Minneapolis ­based Target was that “at least initially [it] was brushed off.”

Target representatives declined to comment to the newspaper to confirm or deny on the warning.

What was particularly frightening in the story was the reporters stating, “The new details, culled from interviews with former Target employees, people with knowledge of the post ­breach investigation and others who work with large corporate networks, show that the breach wasn’t entirely a bolt from the blue, but instead a sophisticated attack on a known point of vulnerability.” Yet, the story goes on the report that Target’s Chief Financial Officer, John Mulligan, told Congress that the company wasn’t aware of the malicious computer code until notified by federal investigators late last year.

Also concerning in the story is the reporting that, “Several members of Target’s cybersecurity team left the company in the months before the hack.”

Clifford Law Offices is part of the legal team that represents a number of Target customers who have had to deal with the compromise of their private information, including some people dealing with fraudulent charges. If you have been the victim of the Target data breach, contact Clifford Law Offices to sign up for the class action lawsuit action, 312­-899-­9090 or visit www.CliffordLaw.com

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Michaels issued a statement that it “recently learned of possible fraudulent activity on some U.S. payment cards that had been used at Michaels, suggesting that the company may have experienced a data security attack.”

When will this ever come to an end? Retailers are aware that hackers are out there, yet the retailers are more than happy to accept your credit card information and use it for their own marketing purposes. Perhaps they should be more proactive in looking into the Smart Chip.

That’s a credit card technology where cards are embedded with chips requiring the cardholder to put in a pin or sign for each transaction to be approved. It also is more difficult for hackers to steal the information contained in a “Smart Chip” card, because the pin number is necessary.

Reportedly a more secure method, “Smart Chips” are already in use in Europe and other places around the world. Why not the U.S.? Too much money, too much trouble for the retailer? It is now the legal system trying to get answers for the consumers on these technology issues when instead it should be the retailers who are out in front.

If you have been the victim of the Target data breach, contact Clifford Law Offices to sign up for the class action lawsuit action, 312-899-9090

The post Target, Nieman Marcus and now Michaels appeared first on Clifford Law Offices.