(WJAR) — A settlement has been reached in a class action lawsuit against Comcast that impacts 30 million customers.
The $117 million settlement will provide impacted Xfinity customers credit monitoring, as well as reimbursement for losses.
“We’re seeing a lot more class actions around data breaches, and it makes sense because too many companies are negligent when it comes to protecting our data,” Bentley University Professor and creator of scamicide.com Steve Weisman said. “And it puts us in great danger.”
Emily Volz reports on how data breaches affect consumers’ personal information. (WJAR)
Weisman says the data breach exposed usernames, encrypted passwords, birth dates, security questions and answers, as well as the last four digits of customers’ Social Security numbers.
“So this particular data breach, there was no Social Security number involved, although it was the last four digits of your Social Security number,” says Weisman. “And people go, ‘Oh good, that’s not a big deal.'”
He continued, “It really is a big deal, because the first two sets of numbers generally relate to where you’re living when you first got your Social Security number and the date of that happening, so it’s not a real stretch for someone with the last four digits to be able to find out what your Social Security number is.”
Weisman said, even if scammers don’t get enough information in a data breach to steal our identity, they’re still collecting information on us.
He said that information can be used in targeted phishing attacks by email, also known as “spear fishing.”
Comment with Bubbles
BE THE FIRST TO COMMENT
Comcast has yet to release details about how to file a claim in this class action settlement.