UCF sued again over data breach
A former UCF men’s basketball team manager who claims his bank account was drained this month has filed the second lawsuit over a computer hack where 63,000 Social Security numbers from former and current students and employees were stolen.
UCF’s handling of people’s private information was “lackadaisical, cavalier, reckless, or at the very least, negligent,” according to the lawsuit filed by Jeremiah Hughley, a former UCF student and basketball manager from 2010-2011.
On Feb. 4, the University of Central Florida announced there had been a security breach involving private information for student government leaders, student athletes and current and former employees dating back to the 1980s.
“For what reason would you want to keep three decades worth of information?” said Hughley’s attorney, John Yanchunis from the Tampa office of Morgan & Morgan. “It doesn’t make any sense.”
UCF officials declined to comment on the lawsuit.
The FBI’s Jacksonville office is investigating the security breach.
Officials have not said how it occurred.
To help the thousands affected, the school set up a website and call-in phone center and promised one year of free credit monitoring and identity-protection services.
The lawsuit was filed Thursday in Orange Circuit Court and seeks more than $15,000 and class action status.
It accuses the university of not doing enough to help the victims, prompting Hughley to buy additional identity theft protection at his own expense.
“UCF has offered its employees and students only one year of credit monitoring and identity theft protection services and also a low quality one, despite the fact that it is well known, and acknowledged by government that damage and fraud from a data breach can take years to occur,” according to the suit.
The lawsuit also said the breach occurred because the university did not follow best practices and industry standards by keeping information unencrypted, as well as improperly handling and storing the information.
Yanchunis said his client realized his bank account, which had less than $1,000, was drained this month after the university revealed the breach. He did not know if law enforcement had been notified.
UCF President John Hitt has called for the university to review its procedures and online systems in the aftermath.
On Feb. 5, two UCF alumni filed the first lawsuit in the computer hack case.
The federal lawsuit, which is also seeking class action status, was filed by Broward County resident Anthony Furbush, a former UCF student government member, and Logan Berkowitz, the former student body president who was known this year for being the owner of an Orlando bar that gave away free beer during UCF’s winless football season.