Can You Be Sued For Cybersecurity Negligence?

29 August 2017
 Categories: Law, Blog

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The creation of new technologies has, in some way, made it easier for businesses to conduct transactions with their customers. They can easily market to their target audience and even conduct sales or keep updated records of customer information. But those categories of data lend themselves to a new area of liabilities: data breaches. 

When Can a Customer Sue for a Data Breach?

When you ask for a customer's information, you are making a promise to them to keep that information private. Likely, you have already agreed to that in your website's terms of service. So when a data breach occurs and someone's personal information is leaked, the customers can sue. Common types of data breach lawsuits include:

Credit Card Information Stolen

This is one of the data breaches that can really tick people off. While purchasing online is convenient, it becomes a nightmare when your company has a mass data breach and leaks credit card information. Any number of customers can have their identities stolen from a single cyber attack which results in a lot of lost time and money for your customers.

Personal Information Stolen

You also have your customers' personal information. That information can be stolen if someone wishes to personally attack your customers or if they want to sell the information to spammers and scammers. Either way, customers can sue. 

What Makes the Lawsuit Successful?

When you hire a cybersecurity law attorney, their job will be to minimize the damages you incur from lawsuits. Many customers may have a claim against your company, meaning you could be paying out thousands or millions of dollars. 

One thing the attorney will look at is how well you have maintained your cyber security. There is a level of trust when people give your company their credit card informations, and if you haven't taken the adequate steps to prevent an attack, then you could be held negligent for the incident. That will mean even more money paid out. If you have done your due diligence to provide security for your website, that helps your case a little bit. 

The severity of damages matters too. When people lose a lot of money, or their personal security is threatened by having their information leaked, that is going to weigh more heavily in the eyes of a judge. Basically, your lawyer will have to review and refute damages on a case by case basis. For more information, visit websites like http://www.vanblk.com.