While I was offline, the lawsuit(s?) apparently commenced against South Carolina over their monster data breach. According to Meg Kinnard of Associated Press, however, plaintiffs might receive only a matter of pennies, as the state limits/caps how much a state agency can pay out for a breach, and that cap is $600,000. It may depend, in part, on how a state court defines an “occurrence.” Then again, there may be deeper pockets with no cap. In the latest development, TrustWave has been added as a defendant. Eric Connor reports;
The private company hired by the state of South Carolina to monitor millions of taxpayers’ sensitive personal data is in the crosshairs of a lawsuit after it was revealed that its services were used in lieu of internal, government-owed protection.
“This is a huge development, because we learn for the first time that a large, multinational corporation had assumed the responsibility for securing this data,” Upstate attorney John Hawkins said in announcing his amended lawsuit against the state, which he hopes will be named as a class-action suit.
“This case is no longer just about suing state government,” Hawkins said. “It’s become much bigger.”
GreenvilleOnline.com is developing this story and has contacted the computer security company, TrustWave, seeking comment, as well as Gov. Nikki Haley.
Read more on GreenvilleOnline.com.