Facade of the Patelco Credit Union with sign and logo in Dublin, California, July 23, 2018. (Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)
(KRON) — Disruptions to online banking and other services for Patelco customers remain ongoing — more than a week after the Dublin-based credit union announced it had been hit by a ransomware attack. Now, a class action lawsuit has been filed against Patelco.
The lawsuit, which was filed by Oakland employment law firm, Cole & Van Note, alleges that the data breach resulted in customers’ sensitive personal information being hacked. The lawsuit also accuses Patelco of being “reckless in not securing its systems and email servers so as to prevent the breach of such important data.”
Patelco also failed to alert customers in time for them to take corrective measures, the suit alleges.
“Our class action litigation sought damages for all victims of this breach,” the lawsuit states, “not the least of which being for the potential years of effort many of the impacted individuals will undoubtedly expend determining the full impact of this breach on their own privacy and/or creditworthiness.”
In an update posted to its website on Sunday, CEO Erin Mendez said Patelco had “worked tirelessly through the weekend” to “advance restoration efforts” and fix the issue for members “as quickly and safely as possible.” Members’ money is “safe and secure,” the update stated. However, the organization was still working to restore full functionality to systems.
“I know I’ve stated this to you before, but the restoration of our systems while ensuring their future security requires careful and methodical work. I know this may not be moving as quickly as you’d like, but please know we are working as quickly as we can and we know how critically important this is to our members,” Mendez said.
According to Mendez, the credit union’s network was stabilized, and transactions were being processed. However, customers are still unable to access their account balances and accounts as normal. Mendez did not provide a timeframe for when full service would be restored.
Read More: Patelco online banking update: Lawsuit filed