January 22, 2024
Douglas J. McNamara named to five-person MDL team addressing largest data breach in 2023
WASHINGTON, DC – The Honorable Allison D. Burroughs of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts appointed Douglas J. McNamara as one of five co-leads to oversee In Re: MOVEit Customer Data Security Breach Litigation. The multidistrict litigation (MDL) involves dozens of class actions from around the country regarding a massive data breach which impacted more than 2,500 organizations and more than 67 million individuals worldwide.
The data breach, which was discovered in May 2023, was linked to Progress Software Corp.’s file-sharing software, MOVEit Transfer, which is used by thousands of organizations around the world to move large amounts of often-sensitive data over the internet. Allegedly starting as early as 2021, a ransomware group known as Clop (aka C10p) hacked the MOVEit servers, stealing customers’ sensitive data stored within. Affected entities include hospitals, banks, businesses, governments, pension funds, universities, among others.
Plaintiffs in the MDL accuse Progress of failing to reasonably secure consumers’ personal information.
“I’m incredibly honored by Judge Burrough’s appointment. She chose among many strong contenders and selected some fantastic litigators to represent the impacted consumers and plaintiffs,” said Doug McNamara, head of Cohen Milstein’s Data Breach & Cybersecurity Litigation team.
McNamara, widely recognized for his class action expertise in data breach and false advertising litigation, will oversee offensive discovery strategy in the MOVEit MDL.
McNamara currently serves as co-lead interim class counsel in In re MGM Resorts International Data Breach Litigation. He is also on the steering committee and leadership teams ofIn re Blackbaud, Inc., Customer Data Breach Litigation and In re Marriott International Inc. Customer Data Security Breach Litigation.
The five-member court-appointed leadership team also includes the law firms of Levin Sedran & Berman LLP; Lockridge Grindal Nauen PLLP; Lynch Carpenter, LLP; Berger Montague; and liaison counsel from Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP.
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