Anthem Insurance Hacked: ‘Tens of Millions’ of Victims
by William Bigelow5 Feb 2015
One of the largest data breaches in history was revealed
Wednesday, as health insurance giant Anthem Inc. acknowledged that its computer
system had been violated starting on December 10. The company noticed the
breach on January 27 and verified it two days later.
The hack puts at least 37 million people in California
at risk, as it includes access to the customers’ names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, member ID numbers, addresses, phone
numbers, email addresses and employment information, according
to the Los Angeles Times. Medical information and
credit card numbers appear to have been protected from the attack.
Jaime Blasco of AlienVault, a San Mateo, Calif., information
security firm, told the Times, “If confirmed, we are dealing with one of the
biggest data breaches in history and probably the biggest data breach in the
healthcare industry. For individuals, in a few words, it is a nightmare. If the
attackers had access to names, birthdays, addresses and Social Security
numbers, it means that information can be easily used to carry out identity
theft schemes.”
Anthem, the nation’s second-largest health insurer and the
top company by enrollment on the Covered California insurance exchange,
released a statement that read: “Cyber attackers executed a very sophisticated
attack to gain unauthorized access” to one of the company’s computer systems
and “have obtained personal information relating to consumers and Anthem Blue
Cross employees who are currently
covered, or who have received coverage in the past.”
Anthem’s chief executive, Joseph Swedish, sent an email to
customers commiserating with their predicament. He wrote: “Anthem’s own
associates’ personal information–including my own–was accessed during this
security breach. We join you in your concern and frustration, and I assure you
that we are working around the clock to do everything we can to further secure
your data.”
The hack into comes at an inopportune time for Anthem, which
is trying to enroll as many people as it can before the Feb. 15 deadline for
the Affordable
Care Act.
Anthem joins other major companies and institutions that
have been hacked; some of the others and the number of people affected include: Court
Ventures; 200 million; Ebay: 145 million; Heartland: 130 million; TJ
Maxx: 94 million; AOL: 92 million; Sony: 77 million; J Morgan Chase: 76 million; the
U.S. military: 76 million; Home Depot: 56 million; and Evernote: 50 million.
Anthem, Inc.
Alston
& Bird was the lobby firm for Anthem,
Inc.
Note: Tom Daschle was a special policy
adviser at Alston & Bird, is the
chairman for the Center for American
Progress, and a 2008 Bilderberg
conference participant (think tank).
Center
for American Progress was a funder for the America's Health Insurance Plans, and the Blue Cross Blue Shield
Association.
Anthem
Blue Cross and Blue Shield is a member of the Blue Cross Blue Shield
Association.
Podesta Group
is the lobby firm for the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association.
Anthony T. Podesta
is the founder & chairman for the Podesta
Group, and John D. Podesta’s
brother.
John
D. Podesta is Anthony T. Podesta’s
brother, a counselor for the Barack
Obama administration, and the founder of the Center for American Progress.
Ezekiel Emanuel
was the health care policy adviser for the Barack
Obama administration, is a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, and Rahm I. Emanuel’s brother.
Open
Society Foundations was a funder for the Center for American Progress, and the Bard College.
George
Soros is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations, Jonathan
Soros’s father, was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open
Society, and a supporter for the Center
for American Progress.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Center for American Progress, the Roosevelt Institute, the Brookings Institution (think tank), the New America Foundation, and the Bard
College.
Rosa
Brooks was a special counsel to the president for the Open Society Foundations, and a columnist for the Los Angeles Times.
Bonnie
G. Hill was the SVP for the Los
Angeles Times, and a director at the Home
Depot Inc.
Madeleine K.
Albright is a director at the Center
for American Progress, and is the co-chairman for the Albright Stonebridge Group.
Albright
Stonebridge Group was a funder for the Center
for American Progress.
Carol M. Browner
is a senior counselor for the Albright
Stonebridge Group, a senior fellow, director for the Center for American Progress, and was the energy czar for the Barack Obama administration.
Melody
C. Barnes is a senior adviser for the Albright
Stonebridge Group, Barack Obama’s
golf partner, was a domestic policy council, director for the Barack Obama administration, and the
EVP for the Center for American Progress.
Barack
Obama’s golf partner is Melody C.
Barnes, the president of the Barack
Obama administration, and was an intern at Sidley Austin LLP.
Carter G.
Phillips is a partner at Sidley
Austin LLP, and was an attorney for eBay
Inc.
Michelle
Obama was a lawyer at Sidley Austin
LLP.
Newton
N. Minow is a senior counsel at Sidley
Austin LLP, and a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago.
R.
Eden Martin is counsel at Sidley
Austin LLP, and the president of the Commercial
Club of Chicago.
David
D. Hiller was a partner at Sidley
Austin LLP, the publisher & president & CEO for the Los Angeles Times, is a trustee at the Roosevelt University, and a member of
the Commercial Club of Chicago.
Anna Eleanor
Roosevelt is a trustee at the Roosevelt
University, and the chair for the Roosevelt
Institute.
James Roosevelt
Jr. is a governor for the Roosevelt
Institute, a director at the America's
Health Insurance Plans, and was an associate commissioner for the Social Security Administration.
Center
for American Progress was a funder for the America's Health Insurance Plans, and the Blue Cross Blue Shield
Association.
Akin,
Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP was a funder for the Center for
American Progress, and the lobby firm for America's Health Insurance
Plans.
Vernon E. Jordan
Jr. is a senior counsel for Akin,
Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP, an honorary trustee at the Brookings
Institution (think tank), Valerie B. Jarrett’s great uncle, a
director at the American Friends of Bilderberg (think tank), and a 2008 Bilderberg
conference participant (think tank).
Crandall C. Bowles
is a trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and a director at JPMorgan Chase
& Co.
Michael P.
Schulhof is an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think
tank), and was the president
& CEO for the Sony Corporation of
America.
Cyrus F.
Freidheim Jr. is an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think
tank), and a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago.
Valerie B. Jarrett
is Vernon E. Jordan Jr’s great niece, the
senior adviser for the Barack Obama administration, and a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago.
Kathleen L. Brown
is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, the California state
government governor Jerry Brown’s sister, and was the California
state government treasurer.
Rahm I. Emanuel
is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, Ezekiel Emanuel’s brother,
the Chicago (IL) mayor, and was the White House chief of staff for the
Barack Obama administration.
Jonathan Soros is
George Soros’s son, the vice chairman for the Open Society
Foundations, a senior fellow at the Roosevelt Institute, and a
director at the New America Foundation.
Peter
G. Peterson Foundation was a funder for the New America Foundation,
and commissioned the Long-Term Cost of the American Affordable Health
Choices Act.
Joe
Mathews was a senior fellow at the New America Foundation, and a staff writer for the Los Angeles
Times.
Walter Russell
Mead is a director at the New America Foundation, a professor at Bard College, and was
a contributing editor for the Los Angeles Times.
Richard T.
Schlosberg III was the publisher & CEO for the Los Angeles Times, and is a director at eBay Inc.
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