Equifax to pay $700M for 2017 breach

The CFPB, Federal Trade Commission and 48 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico yesterday announced a $700 million settlement with Equifax related to its 2017 data breach that affected more than 147 million U.S. consumers. This incident in particular brought renewed focus to NAFCU’s longstanding call for a national data security standard.

The settlement – if approved by the federal court in the Northern District of Georgia – would provide up to $425 million in relief to consumers, as well as a $100 million civil money penalty and other relief. Affected consumers would also be eligible to receive at least 10 years of free credit-monitoring and at least seven years of free identity-restoration services.

“Today’s announcement is not the end of our efforts to make sure consumers’ sensitive personal information is safe and secure,” said CFPB Director Kathleen Kraninger. “The incident at Equifax underscores the evolving cyber security threats confronting both private and government computer systems and actions they must take to shield the personal information of consumers. Too much is at stake for the financial security of the American people to make these protections anything less than a top priority.”

 

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