Penalty Amount
$49,420
Lightyear Dealer Technologies (DealerBuilt) settled an investigation into a 2016 data breach where a misconfigured file system exposed personal data, including social security numbers and bank information, of thousands of auto dealership customers nationwide. The settlement includes an $80,784 payment (with $20,000 suspended) and mandatory cybersecurity reforms.
DealerBuilt must pay $80,784 (comprising $49,420 in civil penalties and $31,364 in reimbursed costs, with $20,000 of penalties suspended upon compliance) and implement comprehensive cybersecurity protocols to prevent future breaches.
In-house legal teams should review all vendor and customer agreements where DealerBuilt (or any data management software provider) processes personal data on behalf of auto dealerships. Specifically scrutinize clauses governing data security standards, encryption of sensitive data (like SSNs and financial information), breach notification timelines and responsibilities, data retention and disposal schedules, audit rights for security assessments, and indemnification for data breaches. Given the settlement's mandated reforms, contracts may need amendments to explicitly require compliance with specific security frameworks, mandate regular penetration testing, enforce multi-factor authentication for database access, and require immediate notification of any misconfigurations or unauthorized access.
Entity
Lightyear Dealer Technologies
Also known as: DealerBuilt
Industry
TechnologyOfficial Press Release
https://www.njoag.gov/software-developer-agrees-to-implement-security-protocols-to-settle-investigation-into-data-breach-exposing-personal-information-of-auto-dealership-customers-nationwide-including-thousands-in-nj/
New Jersey Attorney General Enforcement Page
https://www.njoag.gov/about/divisions-and-offices/division-of-consumer-affairs/
"Lightyear Dealer Technologies"
"$49,420 in civil penalties"
"New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act ("CFA")"
"New Jersey Identity Theft Prevention Act ("ITPA")"
"cyber security lapse that allowed unauthorized public internet access to a company database containing personally identifiable information"
A multistate coalition co-led by New Jersey won a federal court order rejecting the Trump Administration’s decision not to request funding for the CFPB. The order struck down that decision and directed the Administration to follow the law and fund the agency; no monetary penalty or privacy violation is described.
New Jersey’s Attorney General and Division of Consumer Affairs alerted the public that three synthetic kratom-related compounds became illegal to possess or sell in the state under a temporary federal scheduling order. The release describes a controlled-substance alert, not a privacy enforcement action, and identifies no company, privacy violation, or monetary penalty.
$2.3M
Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings agreed to pay $2,287,455 to participating states and strengthen its security and vendor-management practices following an investigation into the 2019 breach at its debt-collection vendor, AMCA. The breach potentially exposed information of more than 27.5 million people nationwide, including sensitive information belonging to approximately 10.2 million LabCorp patients.
$694.0M
New Jersey's Attorney General and Division of Consumer Affairs, along with 41 Attorneys General, reached a $694 million settlement with subprime auto lender Credit Acceptance Corporation over allegations it originated unaffordable loans its own systems predicted borrowers could not repay, employed aggressive debt-collection tactics, and failed to prevent deceptive vehicle-service contract and GAP product 'packing' by dealers. The multistate settlement stepped in after the CFPB permanently dropped its 2023 enforcement action against CAC in 2025. CAC will provide $60 million in cash restitution, $634 million in debt relief, an additional $15 million to the states, and implement injunctive lending reforms including loan off ramps, pre-loan disclosures, add-on packing safeguards, and a seven-year vehicle price cap. Note: this is a consumer-protection lending enforcement action, not a privacy matter; violation categories are best-fit mappings from the available taxonomy.
$650K
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$96.5M
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