Court docs: Lawsuit filed against Columbia Orthopaedic Group after ‘ransomware gang’ takes credit for cyber attack

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A class action lawsuit was filed on Tuesday in Boone County against Columbia Orthopaedic Group after claiming it did not do enough to protect patients’ information from a data breach.

Vicki Dixon, of Laddonia, is accusing Columbia Orthopaedic Group of negligence, negligence per se, breach of implied contract, unjust enrichment and violating the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act.

The lawsuit says a “ransomware gang” earlier this month posted on its “dark web blog” that it successfully conducted a data breach of Columbia Orthopaedic’s network and systems. The petition also alleges that personal information of patients have been posted to the dark web.

The petition claims Columbia Orthopaedic did not encrypt or redact highly sensitive information.

The “ransomware gang” was identified as “Lockbit 5” in court documents and claims it provides a “ransomware-as-a-service” model.

A court summons was issued for Columbia Orthopaedic on Tuesday.