Another company founded by billionaire tech guru Jack Dorsey is under fire for massive security failings.
Mere hours after the former security chief of Twitter blew the whistle on the company’s failure to protect the data of 238 million Americans, claiming it poses a significant national security risk, a class action lawsuit was filed against Dorsey’s payments giant Block.
The class action claims Block, which owns Cash App and Square, was negligent in its failure to protect the data of 8.2 million customers.
The lawsuit is related to a December 2021 breach of Cash App Investing, in which 8.2 million users’ data was stolen by a former employee. It claims the data was able to be stolen by the ex-employee due to Block’s weak security practices.
The ex-employee allegedly pulled reports from Cash App, which included users’ full name and unique brokerage account number. In some instances, the data included brokerage portfolio value, holdings and stock trading activity.
The lawsuit is alleging this data breach is linked to thefts from various users’ Cash App accounts.
The class action focused on Block’s four-month delay in disclosing the breach to the SEC.
“Block offered no explanation for the four-month delay between the initial discovery of the breach and the belated notification to affected customers, which resulted in plaintiffs and class members suffering harm they otherwise could have avoided had a timely disclosure been made,” the suit said.
No Australians are expected to have been impacted by the breach, despite the widespread use of Square payment terminals.
