Premera Blue Cross, a US-based health insurance company, has admitted that its systems were breached and 11 million customers’ records were accessed by hackers. It’s the second cyberattack on a medical insurance firm in the country this year, after Anthem was hacked last month.
Premera said that customers’ names, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, date of birth, Social Security number, medical claims information and bank account information may have been accessed in an intrusion in May 2014.
However, the company claims its investigations haven’t revealed that any information was removed from its systems or misused to date. It’s also working with cybersecurity firm Mandiant, as well as the FBI, to look into the issue.
Premera discovered the breach on January 29, a little before its rival Anthem was hacked. In that case, 80 million members and employees had their personal information leaked.
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The attack affected customers of Premera Blue Cross, Premera Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alaska, and its affiliate brands Vivacity and Connexion Insurance Solutions.
Cybercrime journalist Brian Krebs has speculated that a Chinese state-sponsored hacking group known as ‘Deep Panda’ may have been behind the attacks on Premera and Anthem.
Premera is offering free credit monitor and identity theft protection services to customers to two years. There’s more information on the company’s site.
Featured image: Shutterstock
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