Wall of Shame: Top 100 Most Costly Data Breaches (2005–2025)
Numerous companies have had their reputation sullied and their finances affected by a data breach, although it pales in comparison to the harm that you have endured. The national data breach attorneys at Federman & Sherwood can work for you to be compensated for your own damages.
Companies are forced to bear the cost when their own careless actions have led to a data breach. Not only must they pay consumer victims damages for the harm that they have suffered, but businesses may sustain numerous other costly effects. From your standpoint, you should pursue a business to the fullest extent possible when their negligence has led to a data breach.
Schedule a free initial consultation with a national data breach lawyer at Federman & Sherwood. We can stand up for your legal right to full and fair compensation in the wake of a data breach.
The Financial Consequences of a Data Breach
The true cost of a data breach can be measured in a number of different ways. Companies that have failed to protect your data can be forced to pay in many ways. There could also be other financial impacts, such as a decline in the value of their share price. Accordingly, it is difficult to say which data breaches stand at the top of the list of the most costly all-time incidents. In addition, there could be international repercussions to a data breach because foreign regulators may issue large fines at the conclusion of their own investigation.
Data breaches will become far costlier when there is a large amount of customer accounts involved. Accordingly, internet and social media companies occupy some of the top spots on the list of the 100 most costly data breaches.
With that in mind, here are three data breaches that have had large financial consequences for the company that was at fault for failing to secure customer data.
In 2019, Facebook was fined $5 billion by the Federal Trade Commission when its users’ data was accessed by a political consulting firm. Facebook also had to settle numerous lawsuits that were filed after this incident. Millions of Facebook users qualified for financial compensation in a class action lawsuit. In addition, the officers of the company recently settled a derivative lawsuit that was filed by shareholders on behalf of the company. Facebook executives paid $8 billion to shareholders to settle this lawsuit.
Yahoo
One of the reasons why the Yahoo data breach was so significant is that roughly three billion email accounts were affected. Further, the Yahoo data breach occurred over the course of multiple incidents that lasted for years. Yahoo knew that there was customer data that was affected by a breach, yet the company failed to inform the general public of that fact. Then, the company fell victim to a second and more extensive data breach. Not only did Yahoo have to settle a class action lawsuit, but the purchase price when the company sold itself to Verizon was lowered by over $400 million to account for the costs of the data breach.
Equifax
The Equifax data breach is perhaps the singular crucial incident that focused the public’s attention on network intrusions and companies not taking adequate preventative measures. Equifax holds financial data from most of the American population because of its status as one of the three major credit bureaus. Here, there were 147 million accounts that were affected by the breach. Hackers were reportedly operating on Equifax’s systems for months before the intrusion was detected. They had detected a vulnerability because a crucial certificate had expired. The cost of the Equifax breach included both a class action settlement and a $700 million fine that was imposed by regulators.
The cost to companies that fail to protect your data is much more than financial. For example, Equifax suffered significant reputational harm. Years later, people still generally associate Equifax with the data breach that it experienced.
If a company has failed to protect your data, you can hold them legally accountable. You can file an individual or class action lawsuit to seek compensation for your losses. When a company’s wrongful actions have affected countless people like you, the costs can reach into the hundreds of millions of dollars or more.
Contact a National Data Breach Law Firm Today
If your personal information has been compromised while it was in the possession of someone else, get legal help from a national data breach attorney at Federman & Sherwood. We have offices in Texas and Oklahoma, and we maintain a 50-state practice. You can schedule a free initial consultation by messaging us through our website or by calling us today at (800) 237-1277.