Zoll Medical Corp. is a medical technology company that provides emergency care solutions including critical care devices.  In January of 2023 it suffered a data breach that compromised sensitive information of its customers. following which, as is now often the case a class action was filed by victims of the data breach in which they alleged that Zoll had failed to implement reasonable security measures to protect their data.  A settlement has been reached in the Zoll agrees to pay $3.5 million to class members.  Eligible members of the class can receive up to $5,000 for out of pocket expenses incurred as a result of the data breach.  Class members can also receive payments of $100 if their Social Security number was compromised while class members whose Social Security numbers were not compromised are eligible to receive a payment of $50.

Claims must be filed no later than September 2, 2026.   Here is a link to use to apply for compensation if you were affected by the data breach. https://heartdevicedatasettlement.pnclassaction.com/

The settlement is scheduled for a court hearing on September 10, 2026 for a judge to give final approval to the settlement.

Regardless of whether you were affected by this particular data breach, we are all likely to be victims of future data breaches. So what can you do to protect yourself from data breaches that will be occurring?

TIPS

One important lesson is to limit the amount of personal information that you provide to companies and websites whenever possible.  For example, your doctor doesn’t need your Social Security number for his or her records.

This data breach and the resulting class action is a good example of companies having to do a better job at protecting their customers data.  In particular, companies should be encrypting all sensitive data and limiting access to only employees who require access to particular data.  Not enough companies are taking these common sense steps.  In addition, companies should be training their employees, particularly those in IT to better defend against socially engineered attacks which rely on the cybercriminals use of psychology to convince employees of targeted companies to provide access to their company computer networks.

You should make sure that you have a unique password for each of your online accounts so that if one of your passwords is compromised in a data breach, all of your accounts will not be in danger.  If your information is compromised in a data breach, you should immediately change the password for that account.

If you have not already done so, set up dual factor authentication for each of you accounts where it is available. This will protect you from having those accounts stolen by someone who may have access to your password.  However it should be noted that the malware responsible for this particular data breach is able to bypass password requirements and dual factor authentication.

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