Massachusetts Attorney General Sues Equifax Over Data Breach

The State of Massachusetts brought a civil lawsuit against the credit reporting agency Equifax for failing to adequately protect consumer data and other related violations. This is the first enforcement action arising from the recent data breach.

In the Complaint, filed in Massachusetts Superior Court, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey alleged that Equifax (i) failed to adopt appropriate safeguards of customer data, as required by state regulations regarding data security, (ii) failed to provide timely notice of the data breach to the state and to affected consumers, as required by the state's data breach notification law, and (iii) engaged in unfair and deceptive trade practices based on, among other things, the company's failure to abide by its own promises to consumers regarding its data security practices.