A new insurance attack.
National Public Radio (NPR) reported on Wednesday, 18 March reported that ANOTHER major US health insurer has experience a massive data breach. Premera Blue Cross, a Blue Cross/Blue Shield member from the Pacific Northwest and Alaska, says hackers may have taken data from as many as 11 million customers. Items stolen include, but are not limited to; credit card numbers, Social Security numbers, even information about medical problems. This news is still developing, but Premera issued a statement saying it discovered the data breach on 29 January. Interestingly, that is roughly the same time that Anthem Blue Cross, told the FBI that it had been breached.
The major concern here is not for the individual member, but the opportunity for cyber espionage. “Both health care companies are huge providers with lots of government workers. So if someone wants intel on Defense Department employees — where they live, spouses’ names, serious (or embarrassing) medical conditions, a breach is a way to stockpile that data and use it for blackmail later.”
Definitely worth a listen.
Premera Blue Cross Cyberattack Exposed Millions Of Customer Records- By: Aarti Shahani from NPR