Two more ex-employees of Sony Pictures Entertainment are suing the Culver City company, alleging the studio failed to protect their personal information from computer hackers.
In the proposed class-action complaint, filed late Wednesday in Los Angeles federal court, lead plaintiffs Ella Carline Archibeque and Joshua Forster contend the names, Social Security numbers, medical information and other confidential data of about 50,000 Sony employees was stolen and made public as a result of security weaknesses in Sony’s computer network.
The cyberattack, which the government has reportedly linked to North Korea, resulted in the dump of embarrassing private emails from executives and producers, deal memos, salary information, as-yet unreleased films, and even the phony names certain actors use when making hotel reservations.
As a result of the breach, Sony canceled the release of “The Interview,” a Seth Rogan-James Franco comedy involving an assassination plot against North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The film is thought to be the motive for the cyberattack.
The Sony Pictures corporate press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The latest complaint — the third such lawsuit filed in Los Angeles against the company this week — seeks damages and restitution for those affected by the breach, including $1,000 for each person whose medical information was stolen.
According to the suit, Los Angeles resident Archibeque held various positions until 2009 at Sony, including visual effects coordinator, and Forster, who lives in Denver, worked as an associate systems administrator intern in 2013.
“Since the breach, SPE has focused its remediation efforts on securing its intellectual property from pirates and a public relations campaign directed at controlling the damage associated with the release of embarrassing internal emails,” the lawsuit states. “Meanwhile, SPE delayed confirming the data breach for a week and left its employees in the dark about the scope of the breach, how they and their families were impacted, and what steps SPE is taking to remedy or mitigate the breach.”
Like the previous suits, the complaint contends Sony did little to strengthen its security protection after what the plaintiffs allege is a history of data breaches, and failed to maintain measures to keep employees’ confidential data safe from hackers.
