We all need to be ever more vigilant to avoid people’s data being  leaked via a security breach.

In September 2018, British Airways  revealed that the names, debit and credit card numbers, addresses and email addresses of over 420,000 people had been accessed in a security breach.

Now it’s been announced that BA has reached a settlement with thousands of claimants.

Earlier this year, it was reported that 16,000 people were seeking compensation for the incident, the largest opt-in group action for a data breach in UK history.

Law firm PGMBM has announced that the case had been settled on confidential terms.

Harris Pogust, chairman of PGMBM, said: “We are very pleased to have come to a resolution on this matter after constructive mediation with British Airways. This represents an extremely positive and timely solution for those affected by the data incident.

“The Information Commissioner’s Office laid out how BA did not take adequate measures to keep its passengers’ personal and financial information secure. However, this did not provide redress to those affected. This settlement now addresses that.”

Last year, BA was also been fined a record sum by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) for the breach. Having initially fined the carrier £183m, the ICO reduced the charge to £20m due to the impact of coronavirus on the carrier’s finances.

In a statement, BA said: “We apologised to customers who may have been affected by this issue and are pleased we’ve been able to settle the group action. When the issue arose we acted promptly to protect and inform our customers.”