CCPA Security FAQs: Are businesses strictly liable if a data breach occurs?

No.

The CCPA permits consumers to bring suit if a data breach occurs that was “a result of” the business failing to “implement and maintain reasonable security procedures and practices . . . .” 1   As a result, strict liability should not attach simply because a data breach occurred.  Put differently, a plaintiff must prove both that the breach was a result of the business’s security procedures and that those procedures were not reasonable given a number of factors such as the type of data that the business collected, the industry segment, the size of the business, the type of breach that occurred, etc.


1. Cal. Civil Code 1798.150(a)(1).