(Jackson, Mississippi) Attorney General Lynn Fitch today announced two separate multistate settlements: a $1.4 million settlement with health care clearinghouse Inmediata for exposing protected health information (PHI) of approximately 1.5 million consumers for almost three years and a $10 million settlement with payment processor ACI Worldwide for a testing error that led to the attempted unauthorized withdrawal of $2.3 billion from the accounts of 477,000 mortgage-holders’ personal bank accounts.
“With consumers increasingly conducting business online, it is critical that companies be vigilant and proactive in protecting individuals’ personal and financial information,” said General Fitch. “I am pleased that these companies have agreed to restore impacted consumers and strengthen their security and notification practices to prevent future exposure.”
General Fitch, along with 49 other attorneys general, reached a $10 million settlement with payment processor ACI Worldwide over a 2021 testing error that led to the attempted unauthorized withdrawal of $2.3 billion from the accounts of mortgage-holders, including 2,833 Mississippians. Mississippi will receive $47,836.78 from the settlement. ACI’s settlement also requires ACI to take steps to avoid any future incidents, including the requirement to use artificially created data rather than real consumer data when testing systems or software, and a requirement ACI segregate any testing or development work from its consumer payment systems.
In addition to this settlement agreement with state attorneys general, 44 state regulating agencies, including Mississippi Department of Banking and Consumer Finance, reached a separate $10 million settlement with ACI. “DBCF remains committed to ensuring that nonbank financial service providers maintain strong reporting, risk management and compliance programs to effectively safeguard customer information,” said Mississippi DBCF Commissioner Rhoshunda G. Kelly.
Impacted consumers have received restitution from ACI and through other related settlements. Mississippians affected by ACI’s testing error may wish to submit claim forms in connection with a class action settlement and must do so by November 13, 2023. More information on the class action settlement is available
here.
In addition to the settlement with ACI, General Fitch, along with 32 other attorneys general, also reached a settlement with health care clearinghouse Inmediata for a coding issue that exposed the protected health information of approximately 1.5 million consumers for almost three years, including 7,399 Mississippians. Under the settlement, Inmediata will make a $1.4 million payment to states, including $19,882.40 to Mississippi. Under the settlement, Inmediata has also agreed to strengthen its data security and breach notification practices going forward, including implementation of a comprehensive information security program with specific security requirements include code review and crawling controls, development of an incident response plan including specific policies and procedures regarding consumer notification letters, and annual third-party security assessments for five years.
