Settlement in lawsuit against Sony Pictures Entertainment

11. April 2016

A multimillion-dollar settlement in a class-action lawsuit against Sony Pictures Entertainment filed by former employees, whose personal data was stolen when a data bleach took place, was appoved by an US District Judge last week.

About 437,000 people were affected by the data breach from the time of the 2014 hack through 2017.  In terms of the settlement Sony agreed to provide theft protection and an optional service covering up to $1 million in losses and furthermore, create a fund to cover any additional losses. As the deadline for workers to sign up for credit protection and reimbursement has not yet passed,  the exact amount of money for setteling is not yet available. However, up until today Sony had to pay $7 million in order to notify the people beingt affected by the breach and to establish a fund to compensate them. Nevertheless, this amount does not take millions of dollars into account that Sony had to pay for credit monitoring services and for attorney fees. Until now, 18,000 people have signed up for the mentioned optional service retailing for $350.

During the data breach sensitive personal data concerning current and former Sony Pictures Entertainment employees was stolen and posted online. The data breach was due to hackers, who broke into the company computers and released thousands of emails, documents and sensitive personal information.