Going ahead, as this world becomes more digital and data-centric, no doubt, data breaches and cyberattacks are a real possibility, and every single year, we hear so many cases like this. Right? But still, when you have your faith in a big company like Patelco, you expect some heavy security measures in place for this type of occurrence, correct? But nah, even after that, a cyberattack happened, and this Patelco Lawsuit is all about that.
A Little Bit of Backstory Of The 2024 Cyberattack
Let’s say you don’t know much about what really happened, in that case, let’s just get into a little bit of the backstory, so, in the summer of 2024, Patelco suffered from a ransomware attack that brought online and phone banking operations to a halt for more than two weeks. And? Well, since it was an attack on this big of a company, no doubt, the damage had to be a major one, right? Well, that’s what it turned out to be, like during this time, almost half a million members were deprived of their accounts’ access and could not transfer money. And no doubt, when the details came out about it all, it triggered a lot of worry in common people.
It wasn’t like somebody didn’t take responsibility for this cyberattack, nah, actually, RansomHub group came out, and they accepted that it was an attack done by them. For those who don’t know about them yet, see, it is a ransomware-gang that was later listed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation as one of the most active cybercrime groups of 2024. It was too late until then, like the personal data of customers was already in their hands like names, dates of birth, addresses, Social Security numbers, as well as driver’s license details. At least some of that stuff got leaked on the dark web.
How Did The Members And Customers Suffered?
No doubt, it wasn’t just for saying and for show, many Patelco members have acknowledged that their personal information was compromised after the leaked data was published on the internet. And no doubt, when this became public, a lot of people, the customers, were worried and scared about the possibility of their identities being stolen and their finances being fraudulently used. Which is usually what happens in a data breach or cyberattack like this.
The Company Had This Class Action Coming Their Way!
No doubt, when all of this was done and going on, a lawsuit was coming against the company itself, and that is what happened in July 2024 when a class-action lawsuit was filed in Alameda County Superior Court by the affected members.
Right from the start, according to the plaintiffs, Patelco didn’t implement adequate measures to secure customer data, thereby breaching the California’s Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), unless this cyberattack had not occurred in the first place. They simply say that the company itself failed to protect their customers’ data when it was an expected thing from them.
Did The $7.25 Million Settlement Fixed It All? Spoiler Alert: NAH!
Well, after this case went on for a while, finally, in June 2025, Patelco set up a $7.25 million settlement fund for the members who were impacted. A relief? Surely it was that, and later down the line, approval of the settlement was granted in principle on June 9, 2025, and the final review was scheduled for June 10, 2025.
This settlement was made to cover up the losses that the customers or the members have suffered so far because of this cyberattack and data breach situation. But the most important thing to note here is that, even after the settlement and this class action lawsuit, the company itself didn’t accept that they were in the wrong. They say that they had proper security measures in place, and despite that, the incident happened, but it is not their fault.
