[BreachExchange] Ashley Madison looks to put data breach scandal to bed with $11m settlement

[Inga Goddijn]

http://www.cbronline.com/news/cybersecurity/breaches/ashley-madison-data-breach-scandal-bed-11m-settlement/

The parent company behind infidelity website Ashley Madison has offered a
$11.5 million settlement to those who brought class action suits against
the company in the wake of the notorious breach.

The 2015 breach saw the personal details of 33 million users stolen,
prompting many bids to sue the company.

Data that was stolen in the breach included details such as names,
addresses and birth dates

The $11.2 million sum is intended in part to compensate claims of
disgruntled users, with the majority of the figure, $8.5 million, to be put
towards dealing with multiple class actions. Ruby Life is the firm putting
the offer forward.

While the company, Ruby Life, has undergone a rebranding, it is still
standing firm that it is a provider of “open-minded” dating services,
according to its website. Ashley Madison is also still advertised on the
site.

Adam Nash, EMEA Manager at Webroot said:  “The 2015 Ashley Madison hack is
one of the most notorious data breaches in recent history because of the
nature of the data which was leaked. Putting that aside, it really
highlighted the wide-ranging repercussions that a data breach can have not
only on a company, but the individuals and families of those affected.”

This data breach attracted worldwide attention, raising the profile the
data breach problem that has exploded in the two years since this instance.

“Ahead of GDPR’s introduction next year, businesses need to take heed of
this pay out, as it could be much larger in the future. All companies,
especially those dealing with proprietary information or customer data –
must balance their security resources against their risk tolerance, and
look at threat intelligence solutions that provide them with the greatest
scope of protection. Our research has shown that despite needing to become
compliant to continue operations as normal, nearly half of UK SMBs (49
percent) are not confident they can meet the stringent requirements for
compliance,” said Nash.
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