Southern Co. faces lawsuit over customer data breach

A Georgia customer has filed a proposed class-action lawsuit against Southern Company over a data breach that exposed information connected to about 400,000 utility accounts, according to Law360.com. The complaint was filed Oct. 21 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. It is at least the third proposed class-action complaint filed in federal court this month that names Southern Company in connection with the incident.The plaintiff alleges Southern Company failed to adequately protect customer information, including by not using stronger encryption and by failing to better identify potential threats. The lawsuit seeks several types of damages, as well as attorney fees and court costs, and requests a jury trial. The allegations have not been proven in court.Southern Company disclosed the incident in early October. The Atlanta-based energy company said an unauthorized third party accessed limited information about certain customer accounts through its online cus