Successful Administration of the Yahoo Inc. Customer Data Security Breach Litigation Class Action Settlement

The Challenge

Successful Administration of the Yahoo Inc. Customer Data Security Breach Litigation Class Action Settlement

The Yahoo international data breach was one of the largest in history, with an estimated 200 million accounts compromised in 2016. Under the class action settlement terms, Yahoo agreed to enhance and improve the security of its users’ personal information stored on its databases and pay for a $117.5 million settlement fund to those who demonstrated out-of-pocket losses of time and money.

Kroll's Settlement Administration team was engaged in 2019 to provide administration services that included notice and administration, setting up a means for the millions of people  affected by the data breach to submit claims for processing, as well as mitigating risk to the Yahoo brand.

Due to its unique size and the sensitive nature of breached personal information, the class action settlement required innovative solutions and technology to administer successfully. In addition, the international aspect of the settlement required advanced notice and administration techniques. Kroll went to work.

Kroll's Solution

Successful Administration of the Yahoo Inc. Customer Data Security Breach Litigation Class Action Settlement

Kroll’s Settlement Administration team provided notice and administration services across three countries in accordance with the settlement agreement. In addition to carrying out traditional administration services, Kroll offered solutions such as a comprehensive settlement website, documents, claim forms, claim filing instructional videos, and Interactive Voice Response (IVR) services in five languages – English, Spanish, Russian, Hebrew, and Arabic - increasing the reach and effectiveness of the program. A contact center was established, accommodating all languages with both IVR and live agents.

Kroll coordinated sending over 920 million direct email notices and followed up with over 198 million reminder emails to class members. They implemented an extensive and highly targeted notice media program, including print, press releases, and more than 320 million online and social impressions. To mitigate the risk of damaging the Yahoo brand, a campaign component was added that actively identified ad and website fraud and ensured the ads were targeted correctly.

Kroll developed a proprietary settlement summary updated in real-time on the settlement website to comply with newer requirements from the Northern District of California. This allowed  attorneys to access real-time case statistics on the settlement website as they developed their court reports.

The Impact

Successful Administration of the Yahoo Inc. Customer Data Security Breach Litigation Class Action Settlement

By accommodating a large multi-lingual class through extensive translation and notice services, Kroll accomplished over 81% reach to the target audience and processed over 1.3 million claims.

Additionally, Kroll’s proprietary technology successfully handled large waves of traffic to the settlement website and claims portal. Over 8.7 million individuals visited the settlement website, and over 50,000 calls came to the IVR lines and live agents.

Kroll’s ability to handle an enormous and highly publicized international data breach settlement resulted in a successful administration using unique and innovative solutions.

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