Bank of New York Mellon Security Breach

Chimicles & Tikellis has filed a class action lawsuit in the Southern District of New York against The Bank of New York Mellon Corp. ("BNY") related to two massive security breaches at the company. BNY processes payments and other transactions on behalf of its corporate clients, and provides stock transfer, employee plan administration, and related services for issuers of securities. In connection with those duties, BNY comes into the possession of – and is entrusted with – the Social Security numbers, bank account, and other financial information (the "Sensitive Personal Information") of millions of consumers.

According to the complaint filed by C&T, in February of 2008 a BNY metal box containing six to ten unencrypted computer back-up tapes containing the Sensitive Personal Information of 4.5 million consumers was "lost" from a truck operated by a courier company hired by BNY. The complaint alleges that BNY did not begin notifying consumers of this known security breach until mid-April. In late April, yet another security breach occurred at BNY, this time involving a back-up data storage tape containing images of scanned checks and other payment documents that was "lost" while in transit, according to the complaint. The complaint avers that BNY has revealed that the April security breach "may" involve consumers' Social Security numbers.

The complaint seeks class action status on behalf consumers whose Sensitive Personal Information was accessed and/or compromised by third parties while entrusted to BNY. Plaintiffs seek relief for (i) BNY’s alleged failure to provide appropriate safeguards to adequately protect the Sensitive Personal Information of class members, (ii) BNY’s alleged unreasonable delay in notifying consumers of the security breaches, and (iii) BNY’s alleged failure to provide Plaintiffs and class members with full, meaningful, and appropriate relief under the circumstances.

The class action complaint filed by C&T is attached below.

If you have been notified by BNY that your sensitive personal information may have been compromised in one of the recent data breaches, please contact the attorneys below.  Some consumers who have been notified about the data breaches by BNY have complained of experiencing unauthorized credit card transactions and accounts at retail stores such as Victoria's Secret, Home Depot, and Target.