Jepsen
HARTFORD, Conn. (Legal Newsline) - Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen has announced an agreement with Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. to provide added protections to former and current customers whose information was made public.
The information of former and current MetLife customers was part of a spreadsheet posted online by one of the company's employees. A customer saw the information in November 2009 and contacted the employee who later notified the company. MetLife took responsibility for correcting the issue and provided identity theft insurance and credit monitoring for the customers who were affected.
"The company acted voluntarily to correct the mistake of its employee and to protect its customers," Jepsen said. "But this agreement reinforces the need to make clear to anyone in possession of personally identifiable information about their legal requirements to protect it and ensure that it's not made publicly available."
MetLife agreed to pay $10,000, which will be put into a special fund that is used to reimburse the state's enforcement costs or to reimburse these or future consumers for their losses. MetLife will also reimburse the cost of placing and lifting one security freeze per credit file per customer.
Customers who paid to lift or place a security freeze on their own will be eligible for reimbursement. MetLife had previously paid customers for two years of identity theft insurance and credit monitoring.
The company also agreed to enhance its employee training procedures and policies about the legal requirement to protect information that is personally identifiable and particularly to prohibit posting this information to websites on the Internet.