Clorox Files 380M Suit Alleging Cognizant Gave Hackers Passwords in Catastrophic 2023 Cyberattack USA Herald

pAlameda County CA July 23 2025 The Clorox Company and its subsidiary Clorox Services Co today filed a 380 million lawsuit in California state court against Cognizant Worldwide Ltd and its New Jersey affiliate Cognizant Technology Solutions US Corp The complaint alleges that Cognizant enabled a catastrophic cyberattack on Cloroxs corporate network in August 2023 by handing over sensitive employee passwords to hackers without proper verificationppAccording to the partially redacted 19page complaint hackers gained unauthorized access by simply calling the Cognizant service desk and requesting login credentials The complaint states that Cognizants support agents repeatedly reset passwords and changed account phone numbers without authenticating the callers allowing cybercriminals to bypass multiple cybersecurity defenses within hoursppThis was not the result of sophisticated hacking the complaint reads The cybercriminal just asked and Cognizant handed over the keysppThe cyberattack severely disrupted Cloroxs operations crippling its network and causing significant business interruptions Clorox estimates compensatory damages of approximately 380 million which includes over 49 million in remedial costs and extensive losses due to interrupted shipmentsppThe lawsuit asserts claims of breach of contract breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing gross negligence and intentional misrepresentation Clorox seeks compensatory and punitive damages along with interest attorney fees and costsppMary Rose Alexander of Latham Watkins LLP counsel for Clorox said Clorox entrusted Cognizant to safeguard its systems Instead Cognizant recklessly handed over access to a notorious cybercriminal group ignoring established policies and standards This failure is indefensible and directly responsible for the harm to Cloroxs businessppCognizant has not yet responded to requests for commentppWe are The Peoples Media USA Herald covers everything from breaking news to investigative journalism We also report on politics on the State and National levelsp