Troubled US payment processing company Fidelity National Information Services has been hit by a class action lawsuit, following the theft of 8.5 million customer records by a former employee of its subsidiary Certergy Check Services, who in turn sold the data on to direct marketing companies.

Girard Gibbs, a San Francisco law firm specialising in consumer protection litigation, has filed a complaint on behalf of the customers whose personal data was passed on to unauthorised third parties. The firm is also encouraging any other affected customers to come forward.

According to reports, the suit alleges that Certegy Check Services and Fidelity did not implement and maintain adequate security processes by which to protect confidential data, thereby exposing its customers to the risk of identity theft and financial fraud.

In July it was reported that former employee William Sullivan, a database administrator responsible for enforcing data access rights, removed 2.3 million customer records from Certergy Check Services’ database. According to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, however, Fidelity’s ongoing investigation into the incident has revealed that the number of customer records appropriated was nearer 8.5 million.

Sullivan is alleged to have sold the records to a data broker who then sold them onto multiple direct marketing companies.

Information Age Last word: Conquering insecurity