More Companies Face Securities Fraud Suits After Data Breaches

Litigious shareholders are eyeing fresh opportunities in cyberattacks.

A particular strand of shareholder lawsuits—securities fraud class actions following data breaches on publicly traded companies—are rising in tandem with the frequency of such attacks.

Shareholders have filed nine such class actions since January 2017 under federal securities law, Bloomberg Law data show. None were filed the year before, according to the data. Equifax Inc. and Intel Corp. are among the companies named in those suits, which typically allege that data breaches or system vulnerabilities led to falling stock prices. Two of the suits have been voluntarily dismissed, the rest are ongoing. ...