1,640 enforcement actions from 16 federal and state jurisdictions. Every event traced back to its official government source.
1,640
Total Actions
16
Jurisdictions
$50.0B+
Total Fines Tracked
New Jersey Attorney General settled with Community Health Systems, Inc. over a 2014 data breach affecting 6.1 million patients, including over 45,000 New Jersey residents. CHS will pay $5 million to 28 states and implement enhanced data security measures to protect personal and health information.
$5.0M
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced an $8.69 million settlement with health insurer Anthem, Inc. resolving allegations that the company violated state and federal privacy laws by failing to protect patient personal data in a 2014 data breach. The breach, announced in 2015, exposed personal information of 78 million consumers nationwide, including 13.5 million Californians, due to Anthem’s inadequate information security practices. The settlement includes injunctive terms requiring Anthem to overhaul its information security program to address vulnerabilities that enabled the breach.
$8.7M
New Jersey Attorney General announced a multi-state settlement with Anthem, Inc. over a 2015 data breach that exposed personal information of over 78 million Americans, including 1.15 million New Jersey residents. Anthem will pay $39.5 million to participating states and implement enhanced cybersecurity measures.
$39.5M
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced a settlement with Glow, Inc., operator of a fertility-tracking mobile app, over privacy and security failures that risked exposing millions of users’ sensitive personal and medical information. The settlement includes a $250,000 civil penalty and injunctive terms requiring Glow to implement privacy and security design principles, obtain affirmative user consent for data sharing, and allow users to revoke consent. Glow was alleged to have failed to safeguard health information, allowed unauthorized access to user data, and maintained flawed password reset functions that could enable third-party access without consent.
$250K
The FTC filed a complaint against MyLife.com, Inc. and its CEO for deceiving consumers with 'teaser background reports' that falsely claimed to include criminal and arrest records, and for violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act by failing to ensure accuracy and permissible purpose. The company also engaged in misleading billing practices under the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act and Telemarketing Sales Rule.
The FTC settled with Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics, Inc. for misleading consumers about its participation in the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield framework. The company allowed its certification to lapse in 2018 but continued to claim participation. The settlement prohibits such misrepresentations and requires compliance with Privacy Shield obligations for data collected or deletion of such data.
The FTC finalized a settlement with Miniclip, S.A. for falsely claiming it was a member of the CARU COPPA safe harbor program. Miniclip is prohibited from misrepresenting its participation in privacy programs and subject to compliance and recordkeeping requirements.
The FTC settled with Kohl's Department Stores for violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act by failing to provide identity theft victims with access to their business transaction records within 30 days. Kohl's agreed to pay a $220,000 civil penalty and must implement measures to comply with FCRA requirements, including providing records promptly and posting a notice on its website.
$220K
HyperBeard, Inc., a developer of children's apps, agreed to pay $150,000 and delete personal information it illegally collected from children under 13 to settle FTC allegations that it violated COPPA by allowing third-party ad networks to collect persistent identifiers without parental consent. The settlement requires HyperBeard to obtain verifiable parental consent for future data collection and prohibits using the illegally collected data.
$150K
NTT Global Data Centers settled FTC allegations that it misled consumers about its participation in the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield framework and failed to comply with its requirements. The settlement requires the company to hire a third-party assessor if it re-certifies, prohibits misrepresentations about privacy programs, and mandates continued application of Privacy Shield protections or deletion of data collected while participating.
The FTC charged Facebook with deceiving consumers about its privacy practices and violating a 2012 consent order. In July 2019, Facebook agreed to pay a $5 billion civil penalty and accept comprehensive new privacy restrictions.
$5.0B
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, leading a multistate coalition of all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, announced a settlement with Equifax over a 2017 data breach that exposed personal information of 147 million consumers, including 15 million Californians. The breach resulted from Equifax’s failure to apply a critical software patch and implement adequate security measures, with disclosure delayed for months after discovery. Equifax will pay $175 million in state penalties, up to $425 million in consumer restitution, and implement enhanced data security measures and ten years of free credit monitoring for affected consumers.
$175.0M
Premera Blue Cross suffered a data breach in 2014 that exposed personal and medical information of 10.5 million consumers. As part of a multistate settlement, Premera agreed to pay $10 million in civil penalties and implement security improvements and a compliance program. California will receive over $1 million from the settlement.
$10.0M
Aetna Inc. settled with the California Attorney General for $935,000 over allegations that it revealed the HIV status of 1,991 Californians through a mailing error where medication information was visible through envelope windows. The settlement requires Aetna to implement improved mailing procedures and conduct annual privacy assessments. This action enforces health privacy laws and protects sensitive medical information.
$935K
Neiman Marcus settled a multi-state investigation over a 2013 data breach that compromised payment card data of approximately 370,000 consumers nationwide, including 17,000 in New Jersey. The company agreed to pay $1.5 million and implement enhanced cybersecurity measures such as PCI compliance, network monitoring, and regular security assessments.
$1.5M
EmblemHealth, Inc. settled with the New Jersey Attorney General over a 2016 data breach where Medicare Health Insurance Claim Numbers (containing Social Security numbers) were improperly disclosed on mailing labels to over 81,000 customers, including 6,443 in New Jersey. The company agreed to pay a $100,000 civil penalty and implement compliance reforms including ceasing use of HICNs with SSNs, enhancing employee training, and notifying the state of future breaches.
$100K
ATA Consulting LLC, operating as Best Medical Transcription, settled for $200,000 over a 2016 server misconfiguration that publicly exposed health records of up to 1,654 patients. The settlement includes civil penalties and permanently bars the owner from operating a business in New Jersey. The breach violated HIPAA and the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act due to inadequate security and failure to promptly notify affected individuals.
$200K
Aetna, Inc. settled with New Jersey and other states over allegations that it improperly disclosed protected health information of thousands of individuals through mailings that revealed HIV/AIDS status and AFib study participation. The settlement requires Aetna to implement policy reforms, hire an independent consultant, and pay a civil penalty of $365,211.59 to New Jersey.
$365K
Uber Technologies, Inc. agreed to pay $148 million to settle a multi-state investigation into a data breach that compromised personal information of riders and drivers. The breach occurred in November 2016 but was not disclosed until November 2017. Uber must adopt new policies to safeguard consumer data.
$148.0M
Uber Technologies, Inc. settled for $148 million over a 2016 data breach that exposed 57 million users' personal information. The company was accused of covering up the breach by paying hackers and failing to notify authorities or affected drivers as required by law. The settlement includes a large penalty and mandates robust data security practices, privacy-by-design integration, and regular reporting to prevent future incidents.
$148.0M
Lightyear Dealer Technologies (DealerBuilt) settled an investigation into a 2016 data breach where a misconfigured file system exposed personal data, including social security numbers and bank information, of thousands of auto dealership customers nationwide. The settlement includes an $80,784 payment (with $20,000 suspended) and mandatory cybersecurity reforms.
$49K
Unixiz, Inc. agreed to shut down its i-Dressup teen social website and pay $98,618 in civil penalties to settle allegations that it violated COPPA by collecting personal information from over 2,500 New Jersey children without parental consent and failed to safeguard user data, leading to a 2016 data breach affecting more than 24,000 New Jersey residents.
$99K
Meitu, Inc. allegedly violated COPPA and the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act by collecting personal information from children under 13 without parental consent. The settlement requires Meitu to pay a $100,000 civil penalty, update its privacy policies, and modify its apps to block data collection from children.
$100K
Virtua Medical Group agreed to pay $417,816 and implement a corrective action plan to settle allegations that it failed to properly secure electronic protected health information (ePHI). A vendor's server misconfiguration publicly exposed the medical records of over 1,650 patients via Google searches. The New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs found VMG violated HIPAA's Security and Privacy Rules by not adequately vetting the vendor's security and failing to conduct proper risk analysis.
$418K
The New Jersey Attorney General announced an investigation into how the personal information of millions of Facebook users was harvested and obtained by Cambridge Analytica, a UK-based data analytics company. The AG expressed concern that Facebook may have allowed the harvesting and monetization of user data despite promises to keep it secure.
Cottage Health System experienced two data breaches exposing medical information of over 50,000 patients due to inadequate security measures. The settlement requires a $2 million penalty and upgrades to security practices, including designating a Chief Privacy Officer.
$2.0M
New Jersey Attorney General Christopher Porrino announced that New Jersey has joined a multi-state investigation into Equifax following a data breach affecting 143 million consumers. The multi-state group sent a letter demanding Equifax disable fee-based credit monitoring services and reimburse consumers for credit freeze fees with other bureaus, citing unfair practices and a months-long delay in breach disclosure.
Lenovo preinstalled 'Visual Discovery' software on its computers that intercepted browsing data and broke encrypted connections without user consent, compromising security and privacy. The multi-state settlement imposes a $3.5 million penalty and requires Lenovo to implement disclosure, consent, opt-out, and security compliance measures.
$3.5M
New Jersey joined 31 other states and the FTC in a $3.5 million settlement with Lenovo for pre-installing VisualDiscovery ad software on laptops that created a 'man-in-the-middle' security vulnerability, intercepting users' encrypted data without adequate disclosure or opt-out mechanisms. The settlement requires Lenovo to improve transparency, obtain affirmative consent, provide effective opt-out tools, and implement a long-term security compliance program with independent audits.
$3.5M
Nationwide Insurance settled a multi-state investigation into a 2012 data breach that exposed personal information of 1.27 million consumers due to failure to apply a security patch. The settlement requires enhanced security practices, hiring a Technology Officer, and a $5.5 million payment to the states.
$5.5M
All data sourced from official government enforcement pages.