covering the week's top tech dorks like
Linux bias Equifax has finally agreed to
pay compensation for the massive
security breach at suffered in 2017 that
led to the theft of at least 146 million
people's personal info but before you
get excited the money won't be going to
you but rather to your bank which will
be paid for the hassle of having to
cancel your payment cards that's right
the credit agency has agreed to pay 5.5
million to thousands of banks and credit
unions who said they were injured by
their customers details being siphoned
off by hackers and a further 25 million
to beef up data security
Equifax will also cover the bank's
administrative costs attorney fees and
relevant expenses which raises the
question what happened to the 125 that
America's consumer watchdog the FTC
proudly announced that we would get
thanks to its record-breaking 700
million dollar settlement with Equifax
it's been more than two and a half years
since they were hacked and just under a
year since the 700 million settlement
was met so it's perhaps surprising that
not a cent appears to be for the people
directly impacted by the cyber break-in
the 125 dollar headline fig figure it
turns out was made with the assumption
that only a very small percentage of
those eligible would actually apply but
thanks to the sheer size of the leak the
issue was extensively covered in the
press and that massively increased the
number of people who applied for
compensation this forced the FTC to
admit that it hadn't agreed to a
per-person fine but rather lump sum that
would be split equally between
applicants not only that but behind the
700 million headline figure was a
different reality the FTC had agreed to
just 31 million for the pot that was to
be split equally among individual
applicants the rest was earmarked for
those who demonstrated they were left
out of pocket by the hack mitigations
money for states and so on so while
Equifax settles with states and banks
and hopefully those consumers who
rejected the FTC's terrible deal it
seems that no money will be forthcoming
for those who have gone to the trouble
of trying to get the
125 they were promised