Three Recent Data Breach Lawsuits

Does it feel like data breaches are growing more and more common? They are. In fact, more sensitive data is being stolen now than ever before, placing more and more people at risk for identity fraud. The biggest reason for these breaches? Retailers are increasingly working towards online sales, which means more sensitive data is being transferred and stored in different locations for payment processing. That means these companies have a duty to do everything in their power to protect this sensitive information from being stolen. However, not all companies do what they need to. As a result, a number of data breach class-action lawsuits have been filed. Let’s take a look at just three of the most recent examples.

Equifax

The Equifax breach is the most recent one on the list, and likely the one that will be remembered for years to come. The credit monitoring giant announced the breach on September 7^th, indicating that the names, social security numbers, birth dates, addresses, and even driver’s license numbers for up to 143 million people were accessed without authorization between mid-May and July of 2017. The credit card numbers of approximately 209,000 consumers were accessed.

Equifax is a massive credit-monitoring company, so the fact that so much information was stolen makes this breach truly mind-boggling. The consequences will likely be felt for the next several years as consumers find themselves subject to identity fraud attempts and more. However, lawsuits are in progress which will likely lead to a substantial payout to victims.

Yahoo

In December, 2016, Yahoo announced that the information for more than one billion users had been stolen in August 2013, and just a few months prior they had announced that 500 million users had their data stolen in 2014. The info stolen included names, email addresses, dates of birth, phone numbers, and passwords. While this may not seem as substantial as credit information stolen from Equifax, it’s important to remember how much sensitive information people keep in their email accounts, which may have been compromised through this hack. To date, the class-action lawsuit against Yahoo is the largest class action suit in history.

Anthem

Earlier this year, the largest insurance company in America, Anthem Inc., agreed to a $115 million settlement after they suffered a data breach that jeopardized the information for more than 80 million customers. While this settlement is still in the process of being reviewed by a California judge, it would become the largest data breach settlement in history if approved.