The MD|DC Credit Union Association has joined the Credit Union National Association’s (CUNA) class action lawsuit as a plaintiff against credit monitoring firm Equifax. The lawsuit seeks to hold Equifax accountable for the massive data breach disclosed in September, which exposed the personal information of more than 145 million consumers and 209,000 credit card numbers.
The complaint filed in a Georgia federal court by CUNA, and several financial institutions, asserts that Equifax was aware of the risk posed by failing to secure its website, and did not effectively monitor its security systems to ensure the safety of customer information.
“Equifax must be held accountable for the significant financial harm to credit unions and their members,” said John Bratsakis, President/CEO, MD|DC Credit Union Association. “While the long-term impact of the breach is not known, it’s clear that credit unions potentially face significant costs. The massive Equifax breach highlights the need for tougher state and federal data protection and cybersecurity standards to protect consumers.”
Credit unions will suffer financial losses related to crisis services such as canceling and reissuing compromised credit and debit cards, reimbursing customers for fraudulent charges, increasing fraudulent activity monitoring, mitigating the risk of identity theft and fraudulent loans, and notifying customers of potential fraudulent activity.
19 other credit union leagues have joined the class action suit. The complaint can be viewed here.