LifeLabs Class Action Says 15M Canadians’ Info Exposed in Data Breach

A class action lawsuit alleges that LifeLabs BC Inc. did not do enough to protect individuals from a data breach that exposed the personal information of almost 15 million Canadians.

The LifeLabs data breach class action lawsuit was filed by Kenneth William Morrison who says he’s been a customer of LifeLabs BC Inc. since around 2014.

LifeLabs reportedly provides medical testing to customers including Morrison, work which necessitated collecting, storing, and using highly sensitive personal information. 

Allegedly, this sensitive personal information was exposed during a data breach that took place in October 2019.

The LifeLabs data breach class action lawsuit asserts that LifeLabs should be held liable for the data breach because LifeLabs failed to properly maintain cybersecurity and protect the information of its consumers. 

The Toronto Sun notes that LifeLabs paid an “undisclosed” ransom to the hackers to retrieve the stolen data. However, the news source reports that this may not ensure that the data is safely retrieved. 

The LifeLabs class action lawsuit says that LifeLabs failed to implement sufficiently strong encryption and security safeguards to effectively prevent personal information from being exposed to a data breach.

Additionally, the lab allegedly did not delete or destroy the personal information that was no longer needed in a timely manner, which unnecessarily exposed that information in the data breach. 

The LifeLabs cybersecurity class action lawsuit says that in addition, LifeLabs did not have sufficient systems in place to monitor digital vulnerabilities and threats, so the company was unable to do so when a threat occurred. According to Morrison, LifeLabs’ conduct around the data breach was “reckless.”

In contrast to Morrison’s claim of negligence, the Toronto Sun notes that LifeLabs claims that the company discovered the October data breach thanks to its “proactive surveillance” of cybersecurity, adding that the company has already taken protective steps to prevent future data breaches from occurring.

According to Morrison’s data breach class action lawsuit, LifeLabs’ failures around the data breach amounted to a violation of the contract the company had with its customers.

The company allegedly owes customers a “common duty of care” regarding the storage of customers’ personal medical information. Reportedly, this duty of care comes from LifeLabs’ own privacy policy and security measures, which the company allegedly failed to live up to. 

Morrison seeks damages on behalf of himself and all British Columbia residents who were customers of LifeLabs before Dec. 17, 2019.

The plaintiff says he and other customers were subjected to “real and substantial risks” as a result of a recently announced data breach, including identity theft, extortion, fraud, cybercrime, phishing, and further disclosure of their sensitive medical information beyond the initial data breach.

Has your personal information been compromised in a data breach? Let us know in the comment section below.

Morrison is represented by David M. Aaron.

The LifeLabs Data Breach Class Action Lawsuit is Kenneth William Morrison v. LifeLabs BC Inc., Case No. S1914311, in the Supreme Court of British Columbia, Canada.

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