In March 2021, Parkmobile failed to prevent a data breach, leaving many people’s private information in the public eye. Parkmobile is a popular parking company payment company in North America. It provides consumers with access to the payment of parking spaces on and off streets via an app—by merely utilising their mobile phones. Since this was a severe data breach, the company reached a $32.8 million data breach settlement.
Parkmobile: Story behind the data breach
Four years ago, in March 2021, this popular parking company failed to protect its consumers. Since this is a digital park payment solution, it makes use of an AWS S3 bucket. This bucket is a digital storage solution, used by various organisations to store large amounts of information about their users. It allows organisations to access information effectively for their mobile App. Since it is a digital application, it is crucial that the configuration is up to standard, and that continuous monitoring occurs.
In addition, this breach occurred when hackers gained access to the S3 bucket – due to vulnerability within the cloud storage. Misconfiguring, when the controls which allow a user access, are not set properly. Thus, means that the S3 bucker is left open for anyone who has access to the correct URL to access it. This bucket of ParkMobile contained personal information of around 21 million users.
Many people who used this app were put at risk when their private information was leaked. Some of the private information that was leaked included:
- Email addresses
- Phone numbers
- License plate details
- Mailing addresses (Some cases)
Although the company stated that Payment Information and Social Security numbers, were not affected – the information that was leaked, already presented a severe privacy risk for the users. The data that was leaked led to major crimes and risks like phishing attacks on users and identity theft.
ParkMobile compensation claims
ParkMobile settled for $32.8 million in class action settlements to compensate the affected users – the users whose personal information was leaked. The following are essential aspects to consider – aspects that the settlement covers are:
- Loss Compensation – The users who are eligible of these claims are those who made out of pocket payments for things like credit monitoring, identity theft protection, and if there was any loss caused by fraudulent activity.
- Time Compensation – This is for the time users took to address this data breach, for example when they contacted banks or updating their passwords.
- Claims without Proof required – This is for users who cannot provide proof for the losses they endured. This will be a smaller claim that is still available for these individuals.
Important information if you are affected
If you are a victim of the data breach that occurred in March 2021, by ParkMobile, these are the important dates the keep in mind:
Exclusion deadline: 03 February 2025
Objection deadline: 03 February 2025
Claim Deadline: 05 March 2025
Final approving hearing: 13 March 2025 @10am EDT
If you received any communication from the company pertaining to the 2021 data breach occurrence – you form part of the settlement as a “Settlement Class Member.” As a Settlement Class Member, you are then eligible to submit a claim form to be financially compensated for, or you could receive a credit in your ParkMobile App. You are more than welcome to call 1-866-944-4062 (this is a toll-free number), to obtain more information on your legal rights. Please note: Even if you do not take action now – your rights have still been affected.
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It is essential for users to visit ParkMobile.com, to confirm if they are eligible for any of the aforementioned claim options. Also, if you need any further legal information on your rights as a victim, please click on the link.