ZYNGA

Zynga, developer of popular mobile games Words with Friends and Draw Something, is the target of a proposed class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of players affected by a data breach.

The suit claims Zynga failed to alert users of a data breach, allowing personal data, including name, email address, Zynga ID and password, Facebook ID and password and, in some instances, financial information, to be used in fraudulent activity.

According to Elizabeth Fegan, managing member and founding partner of FeganScott (the law firm leading suit), Zynga’s customer database was breached in September 2019 by a serial hacker who accessed more than 170 million customer accounts. After being alerted about the breach, Zynga never directly notified customers that their accounts were compromised.

“Zynga promised to protect its customers’ data with ‘reasonable security measures,’” Fegan said. “However, when users’ personal data was compromised, Zynga did nothing to contact those who were affected by the breach. Now millions of customers are facing the very real threat of identity theft and fraud for years to come—simply because they trusted Zynga would sufficiently protect their information.”

Significantly, a substantial portion of Zynga’s user base is made up of minors. Fegan noted that children’s personal information is particularly attractive to identity thieves, because minors do not check their credit reports, meaning thieves may not get caught for years or even decades.