It’s unusual to see a data breach lawsuit in the U.K., so this one will be one to watch. The Yorkshire Evening Post reports that approximately 2,000 employees are suing supermarket chain Morrisons over an insider data breach that involved the theft and posting online of the financial and personal details of 99,998 fellow employees by a disgruntled internal auditor. Previous coverage of the breach on this site can be found here.
Andrew Skelton was jailed for eight years in July following a trial at Bradford Crown Court which heard that he sent the information to newspapers and placed it on data sharing websites.
Skelton, who worked as a senior internal auditor at Morrisons’ Bradford head office, had previously been suspected of dealing controlled drugs at work.
More than 2,000 of his former colleagues are now to pursue a group claim against the supermarket giant following a hearing today at the Queen’s Bench Division of the High Court in London.
Other Morrisons’ employees who were affected have a four-month window in which to join the action.