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Securities suit against title insurance firm tied to breach

Posted On: Oct. 27, 2020 2:27 PM CST

Securities

A securities litigation lawsuit has been filed against a title insurance company and two of its officers in connection with a 2019 data breach.

In May 2019, the KrebsOnSecurity.com blog revealed a data exposure of about 885 million customer files of Santa Ana, California-based  First American Financial Corp., according to the lawsuit filed Sunday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles against the company, its CEO and its chief financial officer in James Floyd, et. al v. First American Financial Corp, Dennis J. Gilmore and Mark E. Seaton. The lawsuit was first reported by the D&O Diary.

According to the lawsuit, although the blog said there was no information as to whether the data was used by criminals, the company’s stock dropped when the news was initially revealed, and again last week, when the company revealed the breach was being investigated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and that the agency’s enforcement staff had made a preliminary determination to recommend filing an enforcement action against the company.

In July, First American, which is one of the largest providers of title insurance in the United States, was the first insurer to be charged with violating the New York State Department of Financial Services’ 2017 cybersecurity regulation.

The lawsuit, which seeks class action status, charges the company and the officers with violations of federal securities law and seeks damages, interest, attorneys’ fees and other costs.

The company did not respond to a request for comment.