Sony Pictures settles with employees over hack
The hack-attack against Sony Pictures was a turning point in public awareness highlighting what serious cyber-attacks can achieve.  Employees personal and security data was breached, leading employees to start legal action against the company: these lawsuits were merged into a single employee class-action which settled yesterday for US$8m.  More important than the monetary amount, is that employees around the world are now tuned to the fact their employers can be deemed liable for their own cyber-security, no doubt another line of business for the cyber-insurance industry.

Eleven months after falling victim to a catastrophic hacking attack, Sony Pictures has settled a class action lawsuit filed by employees who feared identity theft.

The movie studio will pay almost $8 million, much of it to lawyers, but also to current and former employees who suffer damages or need fraud protection services.

Several suits were filed in the immediate aftermath of last winter's cyber-attack. Personal data from thousands of employees was reportedly compromised along with private emails from celebrities and executives.

The suits were combined into a single class action case. A settlement was reached on Monday. It is now awaiting court approval.

The agreement was "mutually agreed upon with the plaintiffs and is an important, positive step forward in putting the cyber-attack firmly behind us," Michael Lynton, the studio's CEO, said in a memo to staff on Tuesday.

Related: Sony: Hack so bad, our computers still don't work

Lynton said the proposal extends existing credit and fraud monitoring for employees for two more years.

The studio "has emerged from the cyber-attack a stronger company with a smart and strategic vision for the road ahead," he wrote. "We are looking forward, not back, and we are confident and optimistic about our future."