Yahoo Faces Yet Another Class Claim Over Data Breach

Elizabeth DiNardo, Esq.
Legal Staff Writer

Yahoo! Inc. has faced a barrage of legal complaints since the company announced in September 2016 and again in December 2016 that hackers had breached their security systems and stolen personal and financial information from over one billion Yahoo subscribers. On February 7, 2017, the latest in a series of class action lawsuits against the tech giant was filed in federal court in the Northern District of California by irate customers, Matthew and Deana Ridolfo.

The Ridolfo’s claim that their private information was stolen by hackers during the 2014 Yahoo data breaches and as a result, criminals have set up several fraudulent credit cards in the couple’s name. The plaintiffs argue that the much of the damage from the security breaches could have been prevented had Yahoo acted with more speed and decisiveness upon discovering the breaches, which originally took place in 2014, and again in July 2016. The couple further argued that the data breach could have in fact been avoided completely had Yahoo simply put a more rigorous security system in place. Instead of reinforcing the site’s security, Defendant simply reassured customers that their private information was safe. Had customers known about the weaknesses in Yahoo’s system, Plaintiffs argue, most people would not have entrusted the company with personal information.

The Ridolfo’s suit comes just after five punitive class suits were consolidated into a multidistrict litigation in the Northern District of California under Judge Lucy Koh.

The suits are: In Re: Yahoo! Inc. Customer Security Breach Litigation, Case No.: 5:16-md-02752

Matthew and Deana Ridolfo v. Yahoo! Inc., Case No.: 3:17-cv-00619

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