Back in 2016, Yahoo revealed that three years earlier, in 2013, the company experienced the biggest data breach in its history with 1 billion of its users' login information stolen. But in 2017 Yahoo revised that number to 3 billion accounts hacked-basically every Yahoo account. In 2019, Yahoo agreed to a settlement of $117 million for victims of the breach.
And beginning today, affected users can claim their part of the settlement-which could be as high as $358.
As USAToday reports, Yahoo has launched the website www.yahoodatabreachsettlement.com, where people can go to make a claim. In order to be eligible for a claim, you need to have met the following requirements:
As USAToday points out, though the max a person can get in the settlement is $358, people will likely get far less than that. Matter of fact, in order to get a cash settlement you have to verify that you already have a credit monitoring service. If you don't, your compensation will only be two years of AllClear ID credit monitoring service.
If you do already have a credit monitoring service, however, you can get the cash, but the settlement website notes the "amount [of cash you get] could decrease if the amount of all valid claims exceeds the amount of the Settlement Fund, or the payment could increase to as high as $358.80 if there are remaining funds after all claims for Out-of-Pocket Costs, Paid User Costs, and Small Business User Costs are paid."
The easiest way to file a claim is to do so via the website. However, you can also email Yahoo at info@yahoodatabreachsettlement.com or call them at 1-844-702-2788 to have a claim form mailed to you.
Keep in mind that the deadline for all claims is July 20, 2020.