A metro Atlanta woman has become one of the first plaintiffs nationwide to sue Neiman Marcus over a security breach that may have exposed more than 1.1 million of its customers’ credit cards.
Her lawsuit contends the retailer did not do enough to safeguard its customers’ sensitive, personal financial data and then took too long before informing customers about it.
Donna Clark, who used her credit card to make four purchases at the retailer’s Atlanta store last July and September, filed the suit Monday in U.S. District Court in Atlanta. A week ago, the lawsuit said, the Fulton County woman received an email from Neiman Marcus saying that “some of our customers’ payment cards were used fraudulently.”
The suit seeks class-action status on behalf of all other Neiman Marcus customers who also had their financial data stolen during the security breach.
Clark and others “have had their privacy rights violated, have been been exposed to the risk of fraud and identity theft and have otherwise suffered damages,” the suit said. “Neiman Marcus’ negligence is to blame.”
The suit did not specify the damages being sought. It said Clark and others like her suffer emotional distress and mental anguish over the uncertainty as to what will happen with their credit and banking accounts.
Ginger Reeder, Neiman Marcus’ vice president for corporate communications, declined to comment, citing the pending litigation.
Last week, Neiman Marcus disclosed that hackers invaded its computer system from July 16 to Oct. 30 and that the company discovered on Jan. 1 it was the victim of a criminal cyber-security intrusion. The hackers used what appeared to be a “sophisticated, self-concealing malware, capable of fraudulently obtaining credit card information,” the company said.
Neiman Marcus said about 1.1 million of its customers’ payment cards could have been exposed to the malware. Visa, MasterCard and Discover have found that about 2,400 of the company’s customers’ credit cards were subsequently used fraudulently, Neiman Marcus disclosed.
In a statement, Neiman Marcus president Karen Katz said the store’s customers face “zero liability” for any fraudulent transactions if they report them in a timely manner. The company is offering its customers a free year of credit monitoring and identity-theft protection.
In recent months, a number of major retailers have been sued because of security breaches. Among them is Target, which in December said that up to 40 million of its customers’ credit and debit card accounts were hacked from Nov. 27 to Dec. 15. Target also said that the home and email addresses of up to 70 million of its customers may have been compromised.
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