Anthem, previously known as WellPoint, is a major U.S health insurance provider that provides health insurance services to over 80 million customers. Unfortunately, the details of those 80 million customers - including names, addresses, employment information and social security numbers - may be at risk in a data breach against Anthem"s I.T infrastructure.
On a newly created website located at anthemfacts.com, the CEO of Anthem has published a memo detailing that Anthem was the victim of a "very sophisticated external cyber attack" and outlined which customer details have been compromised. The memo also states that there is no evidence that medical history, such as claims and test results, have been compromised.
Anthem was the target of a very sophisticated external cyber attack. Based on what we know now, there is no evidence that credit card or medical information were targeted or compromised.
The memo goes on to detail that once the breach had been discovered, Anthem went on to patch it and contacted the FBI which began an investigation. It also mentions that Anthem has since contracted the computer security firm Mandiant - the same division of FireEye that Sony hired after their hacks - to evaluate and advise Anthem on how to proceed.
The memo mentions that Anthem will individually contact every current and former member whose details have been compromised - likely by email and snail mail - and also offer credit monitoring and identity protection services at Anthem"s cost. Anthem has also set up a dedicated phone number at 1-877-263-7995 for current and former members who have any further questions about the breach. They"ve also set up a faq page which should cover most people"s questions.
There are no details on when the breach actually happened, but worth mentioning is that the anthemfacts.com domain itself was registered in mid December.
Source: Anthem