Compromise: Harel Insurance will pay NIS 4.8 million to 16,000 Shirbit customers hurt by Cyber attack

Compromise in representations filed by consumers in the case of the cyber attack and the leaking of documents at Shirbit Insurance Company (now, R.P.E. Global): The Harel Insurance Company, which purchased Shirbit's insurance operations in 2021, will pay a total sum of NIS 4.8 million to over 16,000 customers as well as the fund for class actions. This is according to a joint application for the approval of a compromise settlement that was submitted to the court and is now being published for the first time. Judge Avi Forg stated that the request for approval of the compromise settlement is set for a hearing on September 7.
The group to which the settlement applies - in which Harel will pay an amount of approximately NIS 4.8 million - will be divided into 3 subgroups: the first group will include all those about whom "sensitive information" was published until the date of signing the settlement. Each of the members of the first group, which includes 561 members, will be paid financial compensation in the amount of NIS 500, and in total the members of the first group will be paid cumulative financial compensation in the amount of approximately 280 thousand. The second group will include everyone about whom "non-sensitive information" was published and who was not included in the first group until the date of signing the settlement agreement. Each of the members of the second group, which includes 15,683 members, will be paid compensation in the amount of 200 shekels, and in total the members of the second group will be paid cumulative financial compensation in the amount of approximately 3.1 million shekels.
The third group will include anyone for whom "sensitive information" or "non-sensitive information" has not been published, but there is a concern that "sensitive information" or "non-sensitive information" has been leaked, and it may be published at any time from the date of signing the settlement agreement onward. It was agreed that the members of the third group together will be paid compensation in the total amount of 1.4 million shekels which will be transferred to the fund for the management and distribution of funds awarded as relief.
Harel will pay the settlement amount to the members of the first and second subgroups within 120 days from the date on which the court's ruling, which gives effect to the settlement arrangement, becomes final. The compensation to the members of the third group, which will be transferred to the fund, will be paid within 30 days from the date on which the judgment, which gives effect to the compromise settlement, becomes final. The compensation will be paid to each member of the first group and the second group by transfer to the group member's bank account, in the "Bit" payment application, by payment to a credit card, or by check.
On November 29, 2020, a group of hackers broke into the servers of the insurance company Shirbit, in what was defined as a serious cyber incident. The hackers even tried to blackmail the company by threatening to make it public - which was indeed carried out in the end on a smaller scale than threatened. Among other things, the details of a senior judge were revealed, and the company was even fined NIS 10 million by the insurance commissioner following the incident.
In June 2021, the applicants filed a consolidated approval request against Shirbit, in which it was claimed that, in view of serious security failures, due to which the details of thousands of its customers were leaked, Shirbit failed to secure the personal information of thousands of its customers, as well as those who are not its customers, and that it owns their details, all this negligently and violating their privacy.