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Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
A Georgia court granted final approval for an Equifax settlement in a class-action lawsuit, after the credit-reporting agency was hit by its massive 2017 data breach.
Equifax will pay $380.5 million to settle lawsuits regarding the 2017 data breach, the Atlanta federal judge reportedly ruled this week. In addition, Equifax may be required to dole out an additional $125 million "if needed to satisfy claims for certain out-of-pocket losses."
"We are pleased that the Court approved the settlement, which provides significant benefits for consumers whose information was impacted in the 2017 breach," an Equifax spokesperson told Threatpost.
The $380.5 million will be placed into a fund for consumers affected who are part of the class outlined in the lawsuit. The settlement cost will also cover attorneys' fees, expenses and administration costs.
The $380.5 million for affected consumers is slightly more than the $300 million proposed previously by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in July 2019. The July 2019 proposal was subject to the federal court's Monday approval.
As part of the settlement, the company will also need to pay at least $1 billion for improved security, as well as $175 million to 48 states in the U.S and and $100 million in civil penalties to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
Equifax will also need to pay $1.4 billion in litigation expenses and $77.5 million as a percentage based fee, according to Bloomberg.
-- submitted from IRC
(Score: 4, Touché) by Thexalon on Friday January 17 2020, @05:02PM (2 children)
So if I'm reading this correctly, the lawyers are getting approximately 4-5 times what the affected people are getting.
And yeah, the fact that Equifax is still in business is a problem, because from now on investors will have a price to compare to when failing to push for business's records to be properly secured.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by darkfeline on Saturday January 18 2020, @03:17AM (1 child)
Or more to the point, that $1.4 billion in litigation expenses isn't a fine. It's a tax write-off.
Join the SDF Public Access UNIX System today!
(Score: 2) by Common Joe on Saturday January 18 2020, @09:54AM
I was marveling at the fact that "The $380.5 million for affected consumers is slightly more than the $300 million proposed previously..." means $80.5 million is chump change. Side note: if anyone has a little extra in their pocket and is willing to throw a couple of mill my way, I'd be happy to accept.