Connecticut Attorney General William Tong announced that the state will receive $4.78 million as part of a multistate settlement with Equifax stemming from the 2017 data breach that impacted the company, while New York Attorney General Letitia James announced her state will receive $9.18 million.
The total settlement requires Equifax to pay up to $425 million to a consumer restitution fund and $175 million to the settlement coalition of 48 states, District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Equifax will also pay $100 million to the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The settlement requires court approval before funds are disbursed.
The data breach occurred on Sept. 7, 2017, and impacted more than 147 million consumers, or 56 percent of American adults. The breached information included Social Security numbers, names, dates of birth, addresses, credit card numbers and, in some cases, driver”™s license numbers
“Equifax ignored its security obligations and exposed the personal information of half of the American people,” said Tong. “This settlement, the largest data breach enforcement action in history, sends a clear message that failure to implement reasonable security measures will not be tolerated and that cybersecurity cannot be overlooked.”
“Equifax put profits over privacy and greed over people, and must be held accountable to the millions of people they put at risk,” said James. “This company”™s ineptitude, negligence, and lax security standards endangered the identities of half the U.S. population. Now it”™s time for the company to do what”™s right and not only pay restitution to the millions of victims of their data breach, but also provide every American who had their highly sensitive information accessed with the tools they need to battle identity theft in the future.”
