Blackbaud Defeats Class Certification in Data Breach Lawsuit

A federal court rejected class certification in a consolidated lawsuit alleging cloud-services provider Blackbaud Inc. failed to protect the personal information of more than 1.5 billion people that was exposed in a 2020 data breach and ransomware attack.

The plaintiffs failed to show that identifying class members could be accomplished by administratively feasible means and without millions of individualized inquires, Judge Joseph F. Anderson Jr. of the US District Court for the District of South Carolina said Tuesday.

Charleston, S.C.-based Blackbaud provides software for nonprofits, educational institutions, healthcare providers, and arts groups. A prolonged data breach and ransomware attack exposed ...