It was earlier this month that the database of America’s second largest health insurance company, Anthem, was cyber hacked. The hackers were able to gain over 80 million records, making this the largest data hack of any U.S. health insurance company. The breach included emails, birthdays, social security numbers, employment information as well as home addresses. The good news is that the hack did not pull financial information such as bank account and credit card numbers. The bad news is that Anthem customers are now subject to not only identity theft but tax fraud.
This cyber hack will cost Anthem millions of dollars. Anthem hired the cyber-security firm, FireEye, to investigate the recent data breach. FireEye reported back that the health insurance company will need to apply encryptions to their database as a way to prevent such cyber-hacking from happening again. Anthem has also been in talks with a leading identity protection provider, AllClear ID.
AllClear ID offers services such as credit monitoring and repairing identity theft. As of yet there has not been any reported details about the contract however, Anthemfacts.com states that AllClear ID is standing by to assist its customers. Anthem has also stated that customers’ information dating all the way back to 2004 may have been compromised and may be able to enroll in the services provided by the AllClear Pro plan.
According to the AllClear ID website, this program includes, for the price of $14.95 monthly, a range of cyber security services. If all 80 million customers were to enroll in this program it could cost Anthem up to $28 billion. The catch is that neither Anthem nor AllClear ID have commented on the number of customers or the credentials of eligibility for the services potentially being offered.
By the end of December, Anthem had over 36 million medical members. If you are one of those 36 million here are four pieces of advice you should consider:
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About the author
With over 33 years in technology, Chuck brings a unique perspective to adding value through technology to the SMB marketplace. Chuck's diverse experience in Marketing, Sales, Executive leadership and "boots-on-the-ground" technology implementations has allowed him to accumulate a wealth of solutions, tools and techniques that you can benefit from in your business.
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