A US lender is facing separate class action lawsuits over a security incident that exposed thousands of customers’ personal identifiable information (PII).
Plaintiffs for the lawsuits say Centennial Bank suffered a data breach in April 2023 – but they allege the lender only notified affected customers that their PII was stolen a full year later, reports consumer lawsuit-focused news site Top Class Actions.
According to Centennial Bank’s website, the data security incident happened between April 6th-7th of last year, and the lender completed its review on March 29th.
Although the bank has not released the exact number of customers affected, a mandatory data breach notification in Washington State shows 3,044 people were hit in that state alone.
The incident compromised customers’ sensitive information including full names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, driver’s license numbers, bank account numbers and health insurance details.
One lawsuit says that Centennial Bank failed to establish a robust security system to protect its customers.
“Defendant failed to adequately protect plaintiffs and class members PII – and failed to even encrypt or redact this highly sensitive information.
This unencrypted, unredacted PII was compromised due to Defendant’s intentional, reckless, negligent and/or careless acts and omissions and its utter failure to protect customers’ sensitive data.”
Local news site 104.9 The Fox reports that Centennial Bank suffered a massive system-wide shutdown amid the April 2023 incident. Customers were not able to access online banking services or use their cards to withdraw cash or pay for goods and services. At the same time, branches of the billion-dollar lender could not complete withdrawals or take in cash deposits, while auto-deducted bills were rejected. Direct deposit checks for payrolls also witnessed delays.
Centennial Bank has $22 billion in total assets with 222 physical locations across Arkansas, Alabama, Florida, Texas and New York City.
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