Debt Collector Loses Workers’ Computer Access Breach Suit Appeal

Two debt collection firm workers were properly granted judgment on their employer’s claims that one sharing her credentials so the other could access and email a spreadsheet of her work-computer passwords violated federal law, the Third Circuit ruled Tuesday.

The US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit noted that it was joining the Fourth and Ninth in holding a worker is authorized to access a computer when their employer has approved or sanctioned such access. A company policy prohibiting employees from exceeding the bounds of the access they’ve been granted isn’t enough to hold a worker accountable under the ...