Citigroup Wins Dismisssal of Security-Breach Lawsuit

[Jake Kouns <jkouns () opensecurityfoundation org>]

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-09-12/citigroup-wins-dismisssal-of-security-breach-lawsuit

Citigroup Inc., the third-largest U.S. bank, won dismissal of a suit
in which cardholders claimed the bank failed to take adequate steps to
prevent a computer security breach that affected more than 360,000
accounts.

Kristina and Steven Orman of Northport, New York, sued Citigroup in
federal court in Manhattan in October, seeking to represent victims of
the hacking in a class-action, or group, lawsuit. They claimed they
were victims of identity theft and money was stolen from their bank
account and their credit cards following the breach.

U.S. District Judge Deborah Batts in Manhattan today ruled that the
dispute should be decided by an arbitrator. She said the plaintiffs
didn’t dispute that they had entered into an arbitration agreement
with the bank. She also said the lawsuit didn’t assert any claims
under federal law.

“Dismissal of this action is therefore warranted,” the judge said in the order.

Citigroup said in June 2011 that the breach, affecting 1.5 percent of
its card customers in North America, was discovered at Citi Account
Online during routine monitoring. Customers’ names, account numbers
and e-mail addresses were viewed, Citigroup said.

“We are pleased with the court’s ruling in this matter,” Emily
Collins, a spokeswoman for New York-based Citigroup, said in
statement. “We will not comment further because this matter may
continue in arbitration.”

The case is Orman v. Citigroup Inc. (C), 11-cv-7086, U.S. District
Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

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360,083 customers' names, contact information, email addresses, and
credit card account numbers accessed by hackers
http://www.datalossdb.org/incidents/3827
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