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Canadian government data breach class action lawsuit overview:
- Who: Todd Sweet filed a class action lawsuit against Her Majesty the Queen as representative of the Government of Canada.
- Why: Sweet claims the government was responsible for a data breach of a number of online government accounts by allegedly failing to properly secure portals that provide access to them.
- Where: The Canadian government class action lawsuit was filed in Federal Court in Vancouver, British Columbia.
The Canadian government failed to properly secure portals providing access to online government accounts, including My Service Canada Accounts, from approximately June to August 2020, a new class action lawsuit alleges.
Plaintiff Todd Sweet claims he, and “what appears to be” thousands of other individuals, had their accounts left vulnerable to hackers who were able to commit identity theft and Canada Emergency Response Benefit fraud
Sweet claims hackers were also able to access sensitive information during the Canadian government data breach, including Social Insurance Numbers, tax information, birthdates, employment records and direct deposit banking information, among other things.
Thousands of individuals have subsequently suffered damages, Sweet argues, including identity theft, risk of future identity theft, damage to credit reputation, mental distress and financial losses, among other things.
Canadian government data breach result of ‘systemic negligence’ according to lawsuit
The Canadian government is guilty of breach of confidence, systemic negligence and intrusion upon seclusion and is in violation of the Crown Liability and Proceedings Act, according to the lawsuit.
The Canadian government, meanwhile, has asked that class certification not be granted for the proposed complaint, arguing that “none of the requirements for certification are met.”
While the government acknowledges that it may “owe a private law duty of care to an individual,” in the event there has been “specific interactions between the government and the individual,” it argues Sweet has not “pleaded facts that would support a finding of proximity on this basis,” according to the Canadian government class action.
In related data breach news, consumers were also affected by a data breach in May that exposed the personal information of almost 100,000 Ikea Canada customers.
Last month, meanwhile, StockX agreed to pay $130,000 to resolve claims the company failed to protect the personal information of its customers during a 2019 data breach.
Were you impacted by the Canadian government data breach? Let us know in the comments!
The plaintiff is represented by Anthony Leoni and Matthew Burtini of Rice Harbut Elliott LLP.
The Canadian government data breach class action lawsuit is Sweet v. Her Majesty the Queen, Case No. T-982-20, in Federal Court in Vancouver, British Columbia.
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46 thoughts onCanadian government class action alleges 2020 data breach compromised personal information of thousands
Please add mw i am a victim of the security breach ive been locked out of my cra account since 2020 someone changed my CRA password and now i have no way to access it..
Add me please
Add me ,I very been dealing with the cra since june 2021 over a security breach ,I had to provide all of my info again over and over,my benefits was held back ,after a years of proving my eligibility they said they couldn’t find my info and I didn’t make over 5000 ,I know I made more then five thousand it says it on my tax,so I was deemed not eligible and told me the next step was superior Court, I can’t afford superior court.
Please add me
Please add me. I was locked out because someone changed my password and wh n I called the CRA to find out why they admittedly told me that my SIN and other personal information was compromised during the data breach
Add me, I never know how to claim on these class actions, I am a victim of fraud caused my the Canadian federal government, CRA, and EI
For the last couple of years whenever I log into CRA my account I receive an email afterwards reguesting information asking me to update my profile and this past July my banking info for direct deposit was deleted. When I called them to confirm this they said yes my cheque was returned by my bank. I called the bank to question this. And there reply was that Ive been with for over 10 years and none of my banking info was changed. 2 days later I had my trillium chq deposited into my account. Didnt make any sense. I called CRA back and spoke to 3 different people about this. There response was.”it must have been a glitch. Anyhow, I had to re-enter my banking info. None of this made sense to me. Possibly could it be this breech?
My info was stolen they collected unemployment and I never worked I’m on disability . They used my name collected UI FOR months .
Please add me to the list as I have been affected. Had delt with the fraud dept for 3 months and finally received my lockdown benefits, only after suffering financially causing mental stress
I’m still fighting with the fraud department have not received my benefits since last june/2020.
Any info I send them they seem to loose it ,to this day they can’t find none of my invoices and such,and I keep sending them over and over through there portal and fax.thank you