With over 145 million people affected, the 2017 Equifax data breach was one of the largest and most far reaching of all time. Now, with Equifax’s settlement agreement being finalized, those affected by the breach are able to start filing claims against the company.
Those who had personal information compromised by the breach are able to file a claim here. You can find out if your personal information was compromised here.
How much you will be able to claim from the data breach depends on the type of harm you experienced. Those who suffer losses due to the breach and who can prove with documentation their out of pocket costs due to the breach can claim up to $20,000 each. If you did not suffer losses or have out of pocket costs due to the breach, you are eligible for up to ten years of free credit monitoring or a one time cash payment of $125.
Additional compensation is also available due to time spent remedying fraud, identity theft, or other personal information misuse caused by the Equifax breach, having to purchase credit monitoring, or freezing credit reports. Those eligible for this compensation can receive up to $25 per hour for up to 20 hours for doing this work.
Small businesses are becoming popular targets for cyber attackers as they haven’t been able to invest as much in cyber defenses as larger companies, especially after the Equifax breach. A single data breach can cause a small business to go under, and the best way to protect yourself is with cyber liability insurance to contain and manage data breaches to make sure they’re not as widespread as Equifax’s.
Where can you obtain instant cyber liability insurance to contain and manage data breaches?
Colonial Surety includes cyber liability insurance with our ERISA fidelity bond packages with fiduciary liability insurance to best protect your company plan against a cyber attack.
Colonial’s cyber insurance provides a services-based solution to help plan sponsors manage data breaches successfully. These services include a dedicated team of cyber breach professionals who assist plan sponsors at every stage of incident investigation and breach response. These professionals coordinate the carefully vetted forensics experts and specialized lawyers to help plan sponsors establish what’s been compromised; assess plan sponsor responsibility; and, notify those individuals affected. In addition, these services will also coordinate credit or identity monitoring, and PR advice to help the plan sponsor safeguard its reputation. Of course, Colonial’s cyber insurance also indemnifies and defends plan sponsors from covered lawsuits or regulatory actions, the risk of which may be reduced by a well-coordinated breach response, but can never be completely eliminated.
Ongoing governance and evaluation of recordkeepers can help protect data, but the only way to fully protect against a potential cyber attack’s data breach is to purchase cyber liability insurance from Colonial Surety Company.