Anthem Insurance hack puts up to 80 million records of personally identifiable information at risk

In a historic data breach hackers have stolen information on tens of millions records of the insurance company Anthem Inc..

The information hacked from Anthem, Inc. includes patient’s birthdays, medical IDs, social security numbers, mailing and e-mail addresses. Even employment information, and, possibly, individual’s income data was stolen.

While Anthem puts accent on the statement there is no evidence that credit cards or medical records were compromised, – implying that such breach would not fall under HIPAA rules – it is important to remember that PII (Personally Identifiable Information) was stolen, most likely with malicious intent.

PII (Personally Identifiable Information) is much more valuable to the hacker than someones medical record, opening the potential for a massive identity fraud.
David Dadian, CEO of powersolution.com

At this time nobody took responsibility for this hacking event. Anthem has contracted a global company specializing in the investigation and resolution of cyber attacks. While damage is still being assessed, it is believed that the compromised database contained up to 80 million customer records.

According to the Anthem, “Anthem is currently conducting an extensive IT Forensic Investigation to determine what members are impacted. We are working around the clock to determine how many people have been impacted and will notify all Anthem members who are impacted through a written communication.”

Anthem had quickly put together a dedicated website, where limited additional information can be found.