Sony Pictures Entertainment has reached a settment in their 2014 hack lawsuit where a huge database breach occured. The company has agreed to pay out $8 million in the settlement and a check could quite possibly be coming to those who were individually affected.
UPI reported on the court documents, detailing the stipulations of the settlement that was released on Monday Oct. 19. The court documents explain that the bulk of the $8 million will go towards paying the legal representatives of the plaintiffs affected. $2 Million will go toward "un-reimbursed expenses" and the remaining will go toward "losses experienced from identity theft."
It was also reported that an additional $2 million will be paid to plaintiffs who used their own money to "protect themselves from identity theft" after the breach was identified. According to UPI, individuals who fall under this catergory will be issued $1,000 each.
According to a 2014 NY Times article, studio chief executive Michael Lynton first learned of the breach when he received a phone call from the studio's chief financial officer, David C. Hendler, who informed the executive that their "computer system had been compromised in a hacking of unknown proportions." The report stated that three days before Thanksgiving, aproximately 7,000 employees arrived to work and logged on to their computers only to find "macabre images of Mr. Lynton's severed head" on their computer screens.
According to NY TImes, "Everything and anything had been taken," the site reported. "Contracts. Salary lists. Film budgets. Medical records. Social Security numbers. Personal emails. Five entire movies, including the yet-to-be-released Annie."
Sony has also agreed to pay the cost of attorney fees and expenses awarded by the court, in any amount that does not exceed $3,490,000, UPI reported.
The final discovery found a North Korean team of hackers to be the blame for the breach. According to UPI, the hack took place just before the release of the film The Interview, which reportedly "mocked the country's leader."
