More exact numbers are in for the cybersecurity attack on health insurance company Anthem, with 78.8 million people impacted, including 60 million-70 million of Anthem's customers, according to an article at the Wall Street Journal.
Anthem originally said the information of about 80 million former and current customers was accessed, which includes names, birthdays, addresses, email addresses, employment information and Social Security/member identification numbers.
Some of the impacted consumers were enrolled with other insurers under Blue Cross Blue Shield, but used their coverage in a state where Anthem is the Blue Cross plan.
The payer has not been able to yet identify where those roughly 14 million people were enrolled because the records for those consumers are incomplete, according to the article. The insurer told WSJ those people most likely are not current Anthem customers.
Anthem also released numbers of consumers impacted by state, according to the Boston Globe, which include:
- 1.7 million in Connecticut
- 967,000 in Massachusetts
- 531,000 in Maine
- 668,000 in New Hampshire
- 72,000 in Vermont
In addition, 13.5 million Californians were impacted, the Los Angeles Times reports.
In the wake of the attack--one of the biggest the healthcare industry has seen--hospital providers and health payers are speaking out on what they are doing to prevent data breaches, as well as what they should be doing.
Anthem may face costs upward of $100 million following the hack, and already is dealing with a bevy of lawsuits across the country.
The payer said it has not yet seen signs that consumers' information is being sold online, according to the WSJ.
To learn more:
- read the article
- here's the Boston Globe post
- check out the LA Times report