Attorney Gary Lynch, arguing before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on behalf of the plaintiffs in a closely watched case over UPMC’s employee data breach, urged the justices to set aside the technical complexities associated with the field of cybersecurity and instead focus on “one of the most fundamental tenets of our common law.”

“And that tenet is simply that one who does an affirmative act is under a duty to exercise reasonable care so as to protect against foreseeable harm,” he said.