Penalty Amount
$8,000,000
Consumers Affected
34,000,000
Wawa Inc. agreed to pay $8 million to resolve a multistate investigation into a data breach that compromised approximately 34 million payment cards between April 2019 and December 2019. The breach involved malware that harvested card data from point-of-sale terminals. New Jersey will receive $2.5 million, and Wawa must implement enhanced cybersecurity measures including a comprehensive security program and third-party audits.
Wawa must pay a total of $8 million, with $2.5 million to New Jersey, establish a comprehensive information security program overseen by a credentialed expert, provide security training, comply with PCI DSS, and obtain a third-party compliance assessment within one year.
In-house legal teams should review vendor agreements, especially those involving payment processing or point-of-sale systems, for clauses on data security standards, PCI DSS compliance, and breach notification obligations. Customer agreements should be assessed for data handling and consent provisions related to payment card information. Employee agreements may need scrutiny for access controls and confidentiality terms. Key clauses to focus on include security requirements, audit rights, incident response procedures, and indemnification for data breaches. Changes might be necessary to enforce enhanced cybersecurity measures, mandate regular third-party audits, ensure encryption of payment data, and align breach notification timelines with settlement expectations.
Entity
Wawa Inc.
Also known as: Wawa
Industry
RetailOfficial Press Release
https://www.njoag.gov/acting-ag-platkin-co-leads-8-million-settlement-with-wawa-inc-over-data-breach-that-compromised-millions-of-payment-cards-in-new-jersey/
Wawa Inc
https://www.nj.gov/oag/newsreleases22/Wawa-Inc.pdf
New Jersey Attorney General Enforcement Page
https://www.njoag.gov/about/divisions-and-offices/division-of-consumer-affairs/
"Wawa Inc."
"$8 million"
"Wawa failed to employ reasonable information security measures to prevent such a data breach"
"compromised approximately 34 million payment cards"
$18.0M
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$45.0M
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