OPM breach settlement examined

The Office of Personnel Management has agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit related to data breaches in 2014 and 2015 that have exposed data from nearly 26 million individuals, who may be eligible for claims ranging from $700 to $10,000, reports The Record, a news site by cybersecurity firm Recorded Future. "Eligible claimants under the Settlement will receive $700 or the actual amount of the claim whichever is greater up to a maximum of $10,000, unless the total value of all valid claims, plus any incentive awards to named plaintiffs, exceeds the amount of money in the fund. OPM (as authorized by Congress) has made free credit monitoring and identity theft protection services available to all individuals whose personal information was compromised in the data breaches," said Epiq Class Action & Claims Solutions, which had been appointed by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia for managing and distributing the cash payments. With the settlement, OPM and Peraton Risk Decision, which was the agency's background checks contractor, would be allowed to deny any wrongdoing related to the breach, which had been attributed to the Chinese state-sponsored hackers.