Yahoo’s new owners, Verizon and Altaba, have agreed to pay $50 million in damages for the 200 million Yahoo account holders in the U.S. and Israel who had their data compromised in 2013 and 2014, the Associated Press reports.
In 2013, Yahoo suffered a data breach that is said to have exposed the personal information of all three billion of its users. A second one happened the following year, which affected 500 million accounts. Information compromised in the breaches included names, birthdays, email addresses, encrypted passwords, and more.
It took two years for Yahoo to reveal the two breaches. Late on Monday, a class action lawsuit against Yahoo finally reached a settlement, although it only covers approximately 200 million people in the U.S. and Israel who had their information stolen.
Compensating victims
Under the settlement, account holders who had their information compromised will get $25 for every hour they spent dealing with the effects of the breach. Yahoo will also provide free credit monitoring to 200 million people.
Consumers who can provide documented evidence of data loss or identity theft can claim up to $375, based on an estimate of having spent 15 hours dealing with losses like identity theft or delayed tax refunds. Those who don’t have detailed evidence but estimate that they spent around five hours dealing with the aftermath of the breaches can claim $125.
Consumers who had a premium Yahoo email account are eligible for a 25 percent refund on the subscription.
A federal judge in California must still approve the proposed settlement before payments can be distributed. That hearing will be held on November 29. If approved, account holders eligible to receive a payment will be emailed a notice.