Target has agreed to pay $10 million to settle a class-action lawsuit brought by victims of the company’s 2013 data breach – a massive hack that exposed up to 70 million people.
According to CBS News, the settlement has been OK’ed, but awaits final approval from a federal district court. The settlement is large enough to offer up to $10,000 to each individual victim – but as usual with this type of case, a lot will depend on how many injured parties wind up in the claim.
“We are pleased to see the process moving forward and look forward to its resolution,” Target spokesperson Molly Snyder told CBS News.
In December of 2013, Target announced an unknown intrusion into its systems, including payment card data. At the time, Target said that 40 million credit and debit cards had been impacted.
A month later, the number of affected parties had risen to 70 million. The breach, which Target said was aided by foreign software installed on payment machines, affected customers who shopped at Target from November 27, 2013, to December 15, 2013.
Talk about a Black Friday. The breach was so massive that it even became the focus of a congressional probe. In May of 2014, Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel stepped down.
More recently, Target announced it would be restructuring – including making some jobs cuts at its corporate offices in Minneapolis.
Image via Wikimedia Commons
