OLYMPIA, Wash. — The office of Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna announced a multi-state settlement with ChoicePoint, the Atlanta-based company that caused a data breach in 2005 that compromised the personal financial records of more than 163,000 consumers.

As a condition, ChoicePoint agreed to pay $500,000 to the states, which will likely be used for attorneys' fees and costs and improve its credentialing process. Last January ChoicePoint settled a case with the Federal Trade Commission and paid $10 million in civil penalties and $5 million into a pool to be used for consumer redress. This settlement with the attorneys general of 43 states and the District of Columbia must be approved by a judge before it becomes final.

The charges involved failure to maintain the privacy and security of consumers' personal information, including names and social security numbers and credit histories. In February 2005, ChoicePoint announced that criminals posing as legitimate businesses gained access to consumers' personally identifiable information.