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November 8, 2022

Maine joins multistate settlements over Experian data breaches

By Renee Cordes

Maine is in line to receive $143,323 from two multistate settlements over data breaches by Experian that compromised the personal information of millions of consumers nationwide, including more than 12,000 in Maine.

Photo / pixabay.com
Maine will receive a total of $143,323 from two multistate settlements over Experian data breaches.

Experian, an American-Irish data analytics and consumer credit reporting company, and telecommunications provider T-Mobile have agreed to pay a combined $16 million in two separate settlements.

Experian settled its cases for $12.67 million, while T-Mobile reached a separate $2.43 million settlement related to the data breaches.

Under the terms of its settlement, Experian has agreed to strengthen due diligence and data security practices. The company is also required to offer five years of free credit monitoring services to affected consumers, as well as two free copies of their credit reports annually during that same period.

Those requirements come on top of the four years of credit monitoring services already offered to affected consumers, two of which Experian offered in the wake of the breach and two of which were secured through a separate, 2019 class action settlement. The deadlines to enroll in those prior offerings have since passed.

"Mainers should be able to trust that when they share their private information with businesses, that information will be treated with extreme care," Attorney General Aaron Frey said in Monday's announcement. "I'm gratified we could hold these businesses accountable, and strongly encourage affected Mainers to file for their free extended credit monitoring to protect their identities."

A total of 12,058 Mainers were affected by the data breaches, a spokesperson for the Maine attorney general's office told Mainebiz. The person added that the office is not part of any class action suit regarding the matter.

Consumers who were part of the 2019 class action settlement are eligible to enroll in Experian's credit monitoring services as part of the new multistage settlement and can check their eligibility here. 

As part of T-Mobile's $2.43 million multistate settlement, the telecom firm has agreed to strengthen its vendor oversight.

That settlement does not concern the unrelated, massive data breach announced by T-Mobile in August 2021, which remains under investigation by a group of state attorneys general co-led by Connecticut.

Along with the 2015 data breach settlements, Experian has agreed to pay an additional $1 million to resolve a separate multistate investigation into a subsidiary in connection with that company's failure to prevent or provide notice of a 2012 data breach.
 

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