BOSTON (Legal Newsline) - TD Bank reached a settlement with Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley on Monday after allegedly losing unencrypted back-up tapes with personal information for 90,000 customers and failing to promptly notify the consumers.
Two back-up tapes were lost in March 2012 when the tapes were being transferred by courier from the bank's Haverhill location to its Springfield location. The tapes included addresses, Social Security numbers, names, account numbers and other personal information for the bank's customers.
After learning of the loss, the bank allegedly failed to notify the Massachusetts' Attorney General's Office and the consumers who were affected until October 2012.
“Massachusetts data breach law requires businesses to provide notice of a data breach promptly,” Coakley said. “Businesses are required to secure the sensitive information that consumers entrust to them and cannot subject consumers to unnecessary risk by failing to provide prompt notice when that information is compromised or lost.”
As part of the settlement, the bank will pay $625,000 to the customers whose information was breached, $325,000 in civil penalties, $75,000 in attorneys fees and other expenses, and $225,000 to a fund to promote education or fund consumer aid programs.