How to get up to $25,000 under Yahoo breach deal.

Claims period begins; affected U.S., Israel residents can apply

Yahoo users can now submit claims under a $117.5 million settlement over the biggest data breach in history.

In 2016, Yahoo said it had several data security breaches between 2013 and 2016, which affected about 3 billion accounts. It also admitted intrusions in early 2012. For some victims whose personal information was stolen, the breaches were said to have led to identity and credit thefts and bank fraud.

The settlement, which has received preliminary approval, covers residents of the United States (194 million) and Israel (about 200,000) who received a notice from Yahoo about the breaches, or who had a Yahoo email account at any time between Jan. 1, 2012 and Dec. 31, 2016.

As part of the settlement, claimants

can receive credit-monitoring services or $100 compensation for services they’ve already ordered, up to $25,000 in out-ofpocket costs for losses and lost time related to the breaches, and reimbursement of a portion of payments for Yahoo premium or small business services.

To be reimbursed, Yahoo account holders must file a claim online or by mail by July 20, 2020. If they want the right to sue Yahoo they must exclude themselves from the settlement class by March 6, 2020.

There’s a hearing scheduled for April 2, 2020 in U.S. District Court Northern District of California in San Jose for final approval of the settlement.

If the deal is approved, claimants could expect to be compensated within a couple of months afterward, said John Yanchunis, one of the plaintiffs’ attorneys, on Friday.

U.S. prosecutors charged two Russian intelligence agents and two hackers in one of the Yahoo breaches in 2017. One hacker later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five years in prison.

The $117.5 million settlement, a record for a data breach at the time it was reached, has since been surpassed by a settlement in the 2017 Equifax breach. The Equifax settlement announced in July totals $575 million and could reach up to $700 million.

Information on how to file a claim or be excluded from the Yahoo settlement is available on www.YahooDataBreachSettlement.com.