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British Airways has reportedly inked a settlement in a group action filed in the aftermath of a 2018 data breach that exposed the personal information of more than 420,000 customers and staff.
The total amount British Airways will pay in the deal that will end claims the airline failed to properly protect sensitive information, including account details, customer contacts, and addresses, has not been disclosed, reports the American Journal of Transporation (AJOT). In addition, the airline does not admit any wrongdoing per the class action settlement.
In an emailed statement to AJOT, British Airways said that it “apologized to customers who may have been affected by this issue and are pleased we’ve been able to settle the group action.”
The settlement will end a massive class action lawsuit, also called a group action, started by those affected by the massive 2018 British Airways data breach. In 2018, hackers diverted British Airways passengers to a fake website, through which they were able to collect customer data.
After an investigation, the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) imposed a record fine of £183 million on the airline. The regulator found 500,000 customers had been affected by the breach, the Daily Mail reported.
As investigators were looking into the September breach, they discovered an earlier breach had taken place, as well.
The British Airways data breach penalty was about 367 times as high as the previous record holder — Facebook’s £500,000 fine following the Cambridge Analytica scandal, according to a BBC analysis; however, the fine was later reduced to £20 million in October of 2020 to account for the financial impact of the coronavirus.
British Airways began contacting those affected by the data breach in 2019, but later, in October, a group litigation order was granted, clearing the way for a much larger legal action against the airline.
The group action contended that British Airways violated the European Unison General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and caused non-material damage to consumers whose personal information was exposed in the data breach.
Consumers who may be able to benefit from the British Airways data breach class action settlement include those who made a payment using their payment information details on the British Airways website and/or mobile app between 21 April 2018 and 28 July 2018, or 21 August 2018 and 5 September 2018. In addition, those who made a reward booking between 21 April 2018 and 28 July 2018 may also qualify to take part in the group action.
“The pace at which we have been able to resolve this process with British Airways has been particularly encouraging and demonstrates how seriously the legal system is taking mass data incidents,” said a representative of a law firm representing Class Members in a statement emailed to AJOT.
Were your personal details exposed in the British Airways data breach? Will you take part in this class action settlement? Tell us about it in the comment section below.
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