Sony Pictures Entertainment is settling with ex-employees who claimed their personal data was mined by hackers because of the company’s negligence. Sony had tried—and failed—to derail the lawsuit.
The terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
In December, Michael Corona and Christina Mathis, who hadn’t worked for Sony Pictures for years, filed a class action lawsuit in the federal court in the Central District of California, following the massive hack of Sony computers by a group from North Korea that opposed the release of “The Interview,” the spy-caper comedy set in North Korea. They claimed that Sony Pictures failed in its legal duty to protect the personal information of current and former employees affected by the hack. In July, some of the plaintiffs said that identity thieves had tried to use their credit cards and sell their personal data on the black market.
In June, Sony lost a bid to dismiss claims that it was negligent for failing to stop hackers from accessing the company’s computer systems, which resulted in the release of employee salaries, health data, and mountains of embarrassing emails. In August, it opposed allowing the lawsuit to proceed as a class action. And on Wednesday, it filed paperwork indicating a settlement.
Coins2Day published a behind-the-scenes look at the hack in July. You can read it here.