Brigette Honaker  |  March 9, 2020

Category: Legal News

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Security breach sign on computerReaders who are having issues with the Epiq Visa Mastercard swipe fee settlement website are not alone, as recent reports suggest a ransomware attack may be to blame.

Numerous Top Class Actions readers reached out with concerns because they were unable to access various class action and multidistrict litigation settlement websites hosted by Epiq Global, a company which serves as administrator for countless class action settlement websites.

On March 4, Class counsel in the Visa Mastercard swipe fee MDL filed a letter in court detailing the issue.

According to the filing, the Visa Mastercard MDL website was down after Epiq was forced to reboot their systems. As a result, our readers may have been unable to access the Visa Mastercard website among other Epiq open settlement websites.

“We have expressed concerns regarding the highly confidential data entrusted to Epiq and have sought details regarding the nature of the attack as well as its efforts specifically to protect the data related to this action in its possession,” Class counsel wrote. “According to the company there are no security concerns at this time.”

Epiq reportedly announced the ransomware attack on March 2, stating they had already informed federal authorities of the breach. Although the ransomware attack has disrupted daily functions, Epiq has reportedly found no evidence that sensitive data was transferred, misused or exfiltrated by the perpetrators.

“As part of our comprehensive response plan, we immediately took our systems offline globally to contain the threat and began working with a third-party forensic firm to conduct an independent investigation,” the company said in their announcement.

Although services were disrupted by the company’s reboot, Class counsel was reportedly told that Epiq is “starting to bring systems back on-line in a controlled, staged approach and will likely not be fully operational across the enterprise for a few days.”

According to Class counsel’s letter, a status conference is scheduled for March 11 to give further updates on the issue.

One of the disrupted websites was the Visa Mastercard swipe fee MDL website. The settlement website was established in March 2019 for a massive settlement estimated between $5.54 billion and $6.24 billion.

The settlement, which was approved following a $90 million addition, resolves allegations that Visa, Mastercard and numerous banks inflated the swipe fee charged to merchants when consumers paid with debit and credit cards.

Under the terms of the deal, merchants, individuals, and organizations, who accepted Visa and/or Mastercard branded credit or debit cards nationwide between Jan. 1, 2004 and Jan. 25, 2019 may be able recover compensation.

Have you had issues connecting to the Visa Mastercard swipe fee MDL website? Let us know in the comments section below.

The settlement Class Members are represented by K. Craig Wildfang and Thomas J. Undlin of Robins Kaplan LLP, H. Laddie Montague Jr. and Merrill G. Davidoff of Berger Montague PC, along with Patrick J. Coughlin and Alexandra S. Bernay of Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP.

The Visa Mastercard Swipe Fee Class Action Lawsuits are In re: Payment Card Interchange Fee and Merchant Discount Antitrust Litigation, Case No. 1:05-md-01720, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

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One thought on Visa MDL Website Down After Ransomware Attack

  1. LISA HAWKINS says:

    Please add me

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