Saikali Quoted on Cyberbreach Settlement in Law360
Shook, Hardy & Bacon Data Security and Privacy group leader Al Saikali spoke with Law360 on August 18 about the $67 million settlement by Target Corp. and Visa Inc. to reimburse card-issuing banks for costs from the store’s 2013 cyberbreach. It is the largest single settlement of a data security litigation case to date.
Explaining the importance of the settlement, Saikali says, “The big takeaway from this settlement is that it sends a message to merchants that accept payment cards that they could face significant exposure to banks, in addition to consumers when they suffer a breach as result of not adopting reasonable safeguards.”
Saikali added that because the banks’ claims ended in a large settlement, it may lead to more settlements in data breach litigation.
Although it’s not yet clear how the settlement will affect future data breach litigation, Saikali and other attorneys highlight the need for merchants to implement technology that can read chip-embedded cards.
“After the EMV [chip-and-PIN]shift has gone into place, potentially Target’s exposure would have been significantly less than what it is now,” Saikali said.
Explaining the importance of the settlement, Saikali says, “The big takeaway from this settlement is that it sends a message to merchants that accept payment cards that they could face significant exposure to banks, in addition to consumers when they suffer a breach as result of not adopting reasonable safeguards.”
Saikali added that because the banks’ claims ended in a large settlement, it may lead to more settlements in data breach litigation.
Although it’s not yet clear how the settlement will affect future data breach litigation, Saikali and other attorneys highlight the need for merchants to implement technology that can read chip-embedded cards.
“After the EMV [chip-and-PIN]shift has gone into place, potentially Target’s exposure would have been significantly less than what it is now,” Saikali said.
