A major health care company was hacked Thursday, February 5, 2014. And we’re talking one of the biggest health care providers in America.
Anthem’ s computer system was severely infiltrated. Anthem is the second largest health insurance provider in the US, and it’s feared that as many as 80 million customer accounts could be compromised, though investigators are still determining the exact number. According to CEO Joseph Swedish, this was an external and sophisticated cyber attack. Hackers got access to names, dates of birth, medical identification, social security numbers, physical and email addresses, employment information, and income data (how much a person makes in a week, month or year). No credit cards were compromised. The FBI has been contacted and are assisting in this case. Anthem customers are urged to visit website?Anthem facts or call 1-877-263-7995 to see if their accounts took a hit, as well as get other vital information and support. It’s believed this is the largest security breach in medical history.
When I think of it, of all the hack attacks over the last several years: Home Depot, Target, TJ Maxx/Marshall’s, Neiman Marcus, this is probably the biggest one of them all. One, look at the number of people that could be affected. Eighty million is nearly a fourth of the US population. And I take no relief that credit cards weren’t compromised. They got social security numbers. Social security numbers are an ID thief’s main tool to get into credit/debit cards, bank accounts, and whatever else they want to get into. And to risk having intimate personal information like your physical address, medical ID and income data being released to the whole world is a risk few people can bear. Now, everybody knows everything and any psychopath can come to your home and business and commit unspeakable deeds. But here is a great segment about what we can do to keep safe. How many more of these breaches must people suffer?