A former Vanderbilt student and employee has filed a proposed class-action lawsuit over the university’s ongoing cybersecurity incident. (Photo: FOX 17 News)
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WZTV) —A former Vanderbilt student and employee has filed a proposed class-action lawsuit alleging the university failed to protect personal information during itsongoing cybersecurity incident. Vanderbilt’s latest update to its community says all community members must update their passwords to keep access to university systems.
The complaint was filed Nov. 9 in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee. Madison Brinnon alleges Vanderbilt’s security failures exposed her personal information and others’. The lawsuit includes claims of negligence, breach of implied contract and unjust enrichment.
The complaint says the ransomware group BYOD claimed it obtained names, Social Security numbers, email addresses, phone numbers, and student and employee records. It also cites the group’s claim that it took more than 1 million Social Security numbers. That number comes from the group’s claim and has not been independently confirmed.
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Vanderbilt has said it is working to contain the incident and determine what data, if any, may have been accessed. The university has also said restoring normal operations across its systems could take multiple weeks.
Brinnon is asking the court to award damages and require Vanderbilt to improve its data security, conduct regular audits and provide credit monitoring.
FOX 17 News has reached out to Vanderbilt for comment regarding the lawsuit. The response will be added to this story.
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