Illinois will get over $7 mil. in Equifax’s $700 million settlement
Illinois will get over $7 million in Equifax’s up to $700 million settlement with the Federal Trade Commission and others over a 2017 data breach that exposed private information of nearly 150 million people.
The proposed settlement with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will provide up to $425 million in monetary relief to consumers and a $100 million civil money penalty.
Federal officials coordinated the investigation with attorneys general nationwide, including Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul.
Raoul said in a Monday statement that the historic settlement sends a message that those tasked with protecting personal information are accountable.
Affected consumers may be eligible to receive money by filing claims for conditions including money spent purchasing credit monitoring.
The breach was one of the largest ever to threaten Americans’ private information. The credit reporting company didn’t notice the intruders targeting its databases, who exploited a known security vulnerability that Equifax hadn’t fixed, for more than six weeks.
The compromised data included Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses, driver license numbers, credit card numbers and in some cases, data from passports.
Shares of Equifax, which plunged 30% following disclosure of the breach, have since made up that drop. On Monday, Equifax stock price closed at $137.84 — not far from its price of $141.45, where it was trading just before the breach was disclosed on Sept. 7, 2017.
Equifax’s current CEO said he has seen zero evidence the stolen data has appeared for sale on the so-called “dark web” and no evidence of an increased identity theft because of the breach. The company did not provide any evidence to back up that claim.