LANSING, Mich. — Hope College faces a pair of class-action lawsuits related to a "massive data breach" discovered in the fall. They were filed in federal court this week.
The documents state the breach was discovered Sept. 27. Hope College says the data breach prompted them to conduct an investigation, which wrapped up Nov. 8.
However, plaintiffs claim they didn't learn about the breach until the middle of this month.
The lawsuits go on to assert more than 150,000 people might have been impacted, accusing the school of negligence, breach of judiciary duty, and for allegedly violating the Michigan Consumer Protection Act.
One of the plaintiffs seeks $5 million in damages.
Hope College released the following statement on the lawsuits:
"As a matter of policy, Hope College can not comment on pending litigation. Hope College took great care to conduct a complete and thorough investigation, which required time to properly analyze and secure our systems, identify potentially impacted individuals, and prepare resources to help our community protect its information. Additionally, we have reported this matter to federal law enforcement and are cooperating with their investigation."
Meanwhile, current and former students of Hope College are encouraged to take precautionary steps to safeguard their identities.
The Michigan Department of Attorney General says students' private information — including names, birthdays, student IDs and Social Security Numbers — may have been compromised.
“Anyone who received notice from Hope College related to this breach should be taking steps to combat potential identify theft,” says Attorney General Dana Nessel. “While bad actors may have access to your information as a result of this breach, there are ways to protect yourself if your information was compromised.”
Nessel’s office advises those who may have been affected by the data breach to do the following:
- Monitor credit using services that alert you to unusual activity such as large purchases and the creation of new accounts.
- Freeze your credit to prevent new credit accounts from being made under your name. You can do so for free with Equifax (888-766-0008), Experian (888-397-3742) or TransUnion (800-680-7289).
- Set up a fraud alert on your credit report with the aforementioned credit bureaus.
- Seek help from the Federal Trade Commission or the attorney general’s office if you think your identity’s been stolen.
We’re told Hope College will offer free credit monitoring services for a full year. Call 833-540-0798 if you have questions.
Visit the state of Michigan’s website for more information.
