The Federal Trade Commission is taking action against education technology provider Chegg Inc. for its lax data security practices that exposed sensitive information about millions of its customers and employees, including Social Security numbers, email addresses and passwords. Chegg allegedly failed to fix problems with its data security despite experiencing four security breaches since 2017. The FTC’s proposed order requires the company to bolster its data security, limit the data the company can collect and retain, offer users multifactor authentication to secure their accounts, and allow users to access and delete their data.
“Chegg took shortcuts with millions of students’ sensitive information,” said Samuel Levine, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “Today’s order requires the company to strengthen security safeguards, offer consumers an easy way to delete their data, and limit information collection on the front end. The Commission will continue to act aggressively to protect personal data.”
The California-based company has sold educational products and services targeted to high school and college students, including online tutoring and a college scholarship search service. Chegg collects a variety of personal information about its users. For example, as part of its scholarship search service, Chegg has collected information about users’ religious denominations, heritage, dates of birth, sexual orientation, and disabilities. It also has collected...
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