Frontier Communications hit by multiple class action lawsuits after hack

Frontier Communications subscribers are suing the ISP for losing their Social Security numbers to hackers in a data breach.

At least three users filed a class-action lawsuit in a Texas district court on Monday, days after the company revealed that hackers stole the names and Social Security numbers of 751,895 subscribers in a cyberattack in April.

Frontier customers will receive “one year of free credit monitoring and identity theft resolution services.” However, the subscribers behind the class action lawsuits are demanding that the ISP do more and pay “compensation and damages” to the affected victims.

“Plaintiff plans to spend significant time and money on an ongoing basis attempting to mitigate and remedy the harm caused by the data breach,” says one of the lawsuits, which also notes that affected victims “will continue to be exposed to an increased risk of identity theft and fraud for years to come.

The risk of stolen data being exploited is particularly high given that the ransomware group behind the hack is currently attempting to auction off the stolen data to the highest bidder.

The hacking group, known as RansomHub, also claims to have stolen dates of birth and phone numbers. “We gave Frontier 2 months to contact us but they don’t care about customer data,” the group said on its website. “Now anyone who wants to buy this data can contact our blog support, we only sell it once.”

Frontier Communications did not immediately respond to a request for comment, making it unclear how the hackers breached its systems. But consumers behind the class-action lawsuits say the data breach highlights the lack of security at Frontier. They are now suing the company for negligence, breach of contract and unjust enrichment.

Two of the lawsuits propose a “nationwide” class action against the ISP to provide financial relief to all affected customers. Another also urges the court to force Frontier to implement stricter security standards, including encryption of user data.