Healthcare Company Gets Hacked

Recently, healthcare company Anthem Inc. was hacked, and both its employees and customers have been affected. Anthem Inc. said that its computer system was breached and that tens of millions of  people could be affected.

The computer breach of the second largest healthcare company in the United States affects both current and former customers. The hackers were able to access the records of 80 million customers. Even though credit card numbers and medical information were not accessed they were able to access names, birth dates, social security numbers, member IDs, addresses, email addresses, and employment information. Anthem Inc. was previously known as WellPoint Inc.

It was formed when Anthem Insurance Company bought WellPoint Health Networks in 2004.

Anthem has customers in 14 states.That includes Anthem Blue Cross, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia, Empire Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Amerigroup, Caremore, Unicare.  For those that were affected Anthem’s CEO, Joseph R. Swedish, created a webpage that explains to the customers the effects of the hack. The webpage is http://www.anthemfacts.com/. There is also a toll-free number to call for more information, 877-263-7995.

Suspicious activity was first noticed and reported Jan. 27. Two days later, an internal investigation verified that the company was a victim of a cyber attack. After that Anthem reported the hack to the FBI and they are now working with Mandiant to prevent any further attacks. Mandiant is a cybersecurity firm that is evaluating Anthems security systems and finding a solution to prevent further attacks.

This is not the first time Anthem’s security network has been breached; however, this is by far the largest attack against them. In an investigation by the U.S. department of Health and Human Resources it was found that Anthem did not have the proper security protocols in place to protect the information. Anthem claims that extra security protocols would not have prevented the thieves as an administrator’s credentials were compromised and security protocols were bypassed.  This breach comes at a bad time for Anthem as they try to sign up thousands of people for Obamacare by february 15th as part of the Affordable Care Act.