Plaintiffs have filed “at least seven” class-action lawsuits against 21^st Century Oncology, following a data breach of 2.2 million customer records, BankInfoSecurity reports. The suits seek, among other tacks, to leverage the Fair Credit Reporting Act and the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act against the chain of 181 cancer treatment centers, claiming the company took inadequate security measures to guard against hackers. 21^st Century Oncology first reported the breach March 4, and is now on the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights’ “wall of shame” for large health-related breaches. IAPP members Kirk Nahra, CIPP/US, of Wiley Rein, and Adam Greene, of Davis Wright Tremaine, said the suits face an uphill climb, however. Courts have recently said health firms were not covered by FCRA, Greene, noted by way of example, and, “This allegation that ‘some unknown percentage of my payment to you was for data security and I deserve it back’ is creative, but has not been successful,” Nahra said.
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