Penalty Amount
$11,300,000
Consumers Affected
120,000
New York Attorney General Letitia James and New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) Superintendent Adrienne Harris settled with auto insurers GEICO and Travelers for $11.3 million combined over data breaches that exposed over 120,000 New Yorkers’ personal information, including driver’s license numbers and dates of birth. The breaches stemmed from insufficient data security controls, allowing hackers to steal information and file fraudulent unemployment claims during the COVID-19 pandemic. The settlements require the companies to pay penalties and implement enhanced cybersecurity measures including comprehensive information security programs, data inventories, and improved access controls.
GEICO will pay $9.75 million and Travelers will pay $1.55 million in total penalties of $11.3 million. Both companies must implement comprehensive information security programs, maintain data inventories of private information, adopt reasonable authentication procedures, implement logging and monitoring systems for suspicious activity, and enhance threat response procedures. GEICO must additionally conduct a comprehensive cybersecurity risk assessment and penetration testing with an action plan to address gaps, while Travelers must review systems, assess access controls, and improve protections for nonpublic personal information (NPI).
In-house legal teams should review all vendor agreements with entities handling personal or nonpublic information to ensure robust cybersecurity requirements are included. Clauses should mandate multifactor authentication for access to sensitive systems, comprehensive information security programs, regular data inventories, and logging/monitoring systems for suspicious activity. Contracts should require vendors to comply with applicable cybersecurity regulations (e.g., DFS Cybersecurity Regulation for New York financial institutions) and conduct periodic risk assessments and penetration testing. Breach response clauses should require prompt detection and notification of breaches, and audit rights should be included to verify compliance with security requirements. For vendors handling nonpublic personal information (NPI), explicit access control and safeguard requirements must be added.
Entity
Government Employees Insurance Company (GEICO) and The Travelers Indemnity Company (Travelers)
Industry
InsuranceOfficial Press Release
https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2024/attorney-general-james-and-dfs-superintendent-harris-secure-113-million-auto
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https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/links-1.govdelivery.com/CL0/https:*2F*2Fag.ny.gov*2Fsites*2Fdefault*2Ffiles*2Fsettlements-agreements*2Fgeico-travelers-aod-combined.pdf/1/0100019363bb075a-4a9e40aa-0726-482c-b918-d1e3c806689a-000000/Kx3Ng4n2NOaQ06WYnEh5xa_aQ76LvlzBWvWAtpsZzuU=380__;JSUlJSUlJQ!!Ke5ujdWW74OM!8sPcCdEWzzFgL_DMsj5kNdEsvslmVXMswJ0jnX0mfQsX6AzdjPX8DxZ-r7LPKroYD0nr6DAcIO4oA26aXr4GIvKJGIUkpNUQP1CU3aZrtmRw$
New York Attorney General Enforcement Page
https://ag.ny.gov/press-releases
"the Government Employees Insurance Company (GEICO) and The Travelers Indemnity Company (Travelers)"
"secured $11.3 million in penalties from two auto insurance companies, the Government Employees Insurance Company (GEICO) and The Travelers Indemnity Company (Travelers)"
"GEICO will pay $9,750,000 in penalties, of which OAG secured $4,750,000 and DFS secured $5 million. Travelers will pay $1,550,000 in penalties, of which OAG secured $350,000 and DFS secured $1,200,000."
"November 25, 2024"
"New York Attorney General Letitia James and New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) Superintendent Adrienne A. Harris"
"today’s settlements"
$3.3M
New York Attorney General James announced a multistate settlement with three major egg producers for illegally coordinating to influence a daily egg price index, artificially inflating prices for consumers. The companies will deliver 53 million eggs to food banks and pay $3.3 million, along with adopting compliance measures.
$3.3M
New York Attorney General Letitia James, along with the U.S. Department of Justice and 16 other states, reached a settlement with three major egg producers—Cal-Maine Foods, Versova/Centrum, and Hickman's Egg Ranch—for illegally coordinating to manipulate the Urner Barry price index, artificially inflating egg prices nationwide. The companies will deliver 53 million eggs to food banks across participating states, pay $3.3 million, and adopt compliance measures to prevent future violations.
New York Attorney General Letitia James issued a consumer alert warning New Yorkers about gold bar scams targeting seniors, where scammers trick victims into converting money into gold bars. The alert provides tips to help consumers avoid falling victim to these scams.
$3.3M
New York Attorney General Letitia James announced a multistate settlement with Cal-Maine Foods, Versova/Centrum, and Hickman's Egg Ranch for illegally coordinating to manipulate the Urner Barry egg price index, artificially inflating egg prices. The companies will deliver 53 million eggs to food banks and pay $3.3 million, along with compliance measures.
$3.3M
New York Attorney General Letitia James and a bipartisan multistate coalition, alongside the U.S. Department of Justice, settled with three major egg producers for illegally coordinating to manipulate the Urner Barry daily price index, artificially inflating egg prices for retailers and consumers. The companies will deliver 53 million eggs to food banks nationwide, including 4,968,000 eggs to New York, and pay a combined $3.3 million, along with adopting compliance measures to prevent future violations.
Attorney General Jennifer Davenport joined a coalition of 23 states and DC in suing the Trump Administration over policy changes by the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) that would allow broad sharing of TANF recipients' sensitive personal data with other federal agencies, including ICE. The lawsuit argues the policy violates the Administrative Procedure Act and the Spending Clause, and seeks to block its implementation.