Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield officials announced Monday the discovery of a data breach of the health insurer’s IT system. Cyber attackers gained access to personal information of members who were or are currently covered by Anthem or other independent Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans.
The company has members in 14 states. Lou Riepl is strategic communications manager for Regence Blue Cross Blue Shield. He says about 11,000 Utahns were affected by the cyber attack.
“That includes people who, though they are Regence Blue Cross Blue Shield of Utah members, may have accessed healthcare in one of the Anthem states,” says Riepl. “Near us that would be California, Colorado, Nevada, where they may have sought medical care over a ten year period from 2004 to 2014.”
Riepl says while it’s always critical for members to be vigilant with personal information, access to files at Regence remains secure.
“It has been determined by us internally and by our third party experts that we retained that Regence’s information systems were not hacked or affected by this incident in any way,” says Riepl.
A statement from Anthem says that suspicious activity may have occurred over the course of several weeks beginning in early December last year. Company officials said in a statement that as soon as the attack was discovered, they contacted the FBI and began working to secure the information. Members are being offered free credit monitoring for two years due to the breach.
NOTE: This story has been edited to correct a mistake. Members are being offered TWO (2) years free credit monitoring. The original version stated one year.
