Articles (2024)

Personal Finance

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Highlights:

• The third-party settlement administrator appointed by the court to manage the Equifax^® cybersecurity incident settlement has begun sending cash payments to claimants who submitted for cash benefits as part of the settlement.
• The settlement administrator, not Equifax, set the payment amounts pursuant to the terms of the settlement agreement.
• Since the 2017 cyberattack by members of the Chinese military, Equifax completely overhauled its security program to enhance protection of consumer data. There has been no evidence that the data stolen in the 2017 breach has ever been used.

The settlement was reached after a lengthy process and agreed to by the Federal Trade Commission, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, 50 U.S. states and territories, the attorneys representing the consumer class action plaintiffs, and Equifax. The parties to the settlement agreed to appoint a third party settlement administrator, which was approved by the federal judge overseeing the settlement, and the actual amounts being received by consumers were determined by the settlement administrator in accordance with the terms of the settlement.

More Information Available Online and Via Toll-Free Phone Number

For more information, you can:

• Visit the administrator’s website, www.equifaxbreachsettlement.com, which includes a Frequently Asked Questions page.
• Call the settlement administrator at this toll-free number - 1-833-759-2982.
• Go to the Federal Trade Commission’s website. The FTC also posted a blog about the settlement.

Other Consumer Benefits of the Settlement

Under the Court-approved settlement, a consumer restitution fund of up to $425 million was created to pay for three-bureau credit monitoring for consumers whose information was impacted in the 2017 breach, actual out-of-pocket losses related to the breach, and other consumer benefits such as identity restoration services. Equifax has been providing free credit monitoring services to consumers since September 2017. Earlier this year, those who opted for credit monitoring also received a free four-year membership in identity protection from Experian^®.

Strengthening Protections of Your Data

Following the 2017 cyberattack on Equifax by members of the Chinese Military, we completely overhauled our security program. We invested $1.5 billion to build top-tier security and technology capabilities and hired more than 600 highly skilled cybersecurity professionals to protect consumer data. Equifax’s Chief Information Security Officer serves as an advisor on cybersecurity to the Federal Bureau of Investigation at the Bureau’s request.

Equifax also introduced next generation cybersecurity detection and response technology across our operations. Because of these efforts – and many others listed in our Security Annual Report – we’ve built one of the most advanced, effective, and transparent cybersecurity programs in business today.