San Francisco's city attorney filed a lawsuit against Equifax saying the credit monitoring firm failed to protect the personal data of 15 million Californian residents.
The suit, filed in San Francisco Superior Court on behalf of the state residents affected, says Equifax violated state law pertaining to unlawful, unfair or fraudulent business practices by failing to implement and maintain reasonable security procedures, failing to provide timely notice of the breach to affected consumers, and by providing incomplete and difficult-to-understand information about the breach.
The suit is seeking restitution to the tune of $2,500 per violation and would require the company to implement proper cybersecurity procedures.
“Equifax's incompetence would be comical if the subject matter weren't so serious,” Herrera said. “This company fell asleep at the switch and upended the lives of millions of people. The information that Equifax failed to safeguard is what people need to open a bank account, buy a home. or rent an apartment. Now Californians have been put at risk of identity theft for years to come,” said San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera.
