Anthem Hacked: 80 million customers

[Katiek]

My mom get a letter last week from Anthem, and she's wary of signing up for the protection because "it's one more organization that would have all my info and could lose it again". She's wary of providing detailed info to a company when it's not mandatory.

Since she's older and not likely to track her own credit info, it seems like signing up would be a good precaution. Does my Mom have a legitimate concern here, or should I encourage her to sign up?

 

[Chuckanut]

Since she's older and not likely to track her own credit info, it seems like signing up would be a good precaution. Does my Mom have a legitimate concern here, or should I encourage her to sign up?

IMHO, the 'protection' they offer is not very good. Sort of like somebody telling you that while you were out somebody stole your horse and is gone with it. Good luck. What you need is a way to keep the horse from being stolen. That is what a credit freeze is about.

 

[Options]

The letters received from Anthem state your information may have been compromised. They do not specifically tell you that it has.

I called this number 1-877-263-7995 (the AllClear vendor) and insisted I be told if my specific information has been exposed. They then connected me to an Anthem representative who, after asking for my name, address, and DOB, did tell me that my personal information has in fact been compromised. I am contemplating joining a class action suit here in California as this will haunt my financial situation for the rest of my life, long after the two year AllClear "protection" has expired.

BTW, anyone victimized, below is a list of information exposed from Anthem's own website https://www.anthemfacts.com/

What did the cyberattackers access?
Accessed information may have included:

• Names
• Dates of birth
• Social Security numbers
• Health care ID numbers
• Home addresses
• Email addresses
• Work information like income data

 

[sheehs1]

I am contemplating joining a class action suit here in California as this will haunt my financial situation for the rest of my life, long after the two year AllClear "protection" has expired.

/[/URL]

I am so mad about this that I would consider joining a class action as well. I have not gotten wind of one in my state yet. You are correct, our data is out there in hackers hands for the rest of our lives.

 

[Gumby]

I am so mad about this that I would consider joining a class action as well. I have not gotten wind of one in my state yet. You are correct, our data is out there in hackers hands for the rest of our lives.

Unless you are interested in being one of the named, representative plaintiffs, you probably won't need to do anything. There will likely be a number of class action suits filed. Eventually, they'll get consolidated and tried or settled together. You'll likely be in the designated class and will receive a share of the settlement or judgment unless you opt out.

 

[sheehs1]

Unless you are interested in being one of the named, representative plaintiffs, you probably won't need to do anything. There will likely be a number of class action suits filed. Eventually, they'll get consolidated and tried or settled together. You'll likely be in the designated class and will receive a share of the settlement or judgment unless you opt out.

That is good to know Gumby. Thank you.

 

[Dreamer]

DH and I received letters. I went to their site and it did not appear that we had to worry as our insurance was not listed there. Went to the faq sheet and it said if you were a federal employee, you did. I sent the email they requested and it said I would receive a reply within 72 hours. Not sure what the reply is for, but hopefully they will tell me that our info was not compromised.

 

[ERD50]

That is good to know Gumby. Thank you.

And you might get $0.76, while the lawyers get millions.

-ERD50

 

[aja8888]

And you might get $0.76, while the lawyers get millions.

-ERD50

Sometimes it pays to be a lawyer I guess!

 

[sheehs1]

And you might get $0.76, while the lawyers get millions.

-ERD50

I'm sure you are correct on that ERD50.

 

[eytonxav]

And you might get $0.76, while the lawyers get millions.

-ERD50

Or if you have a lawyer in the family, file your own suit

 

[Chuckanut]

And you might get $0.76, while the lawyers get millions.

-ERD50

Once I got a coupon for a free VCR movie rental thanks to the lawyers for sued for me and other customers. The lawyers got tens of millions of dollars in fees. I never used the coupon. But, it was worth more than $.076.

I expect to get an offer for a few years of credit monitoring due to an insurance company being breached. I don't consider that very useful or reasonable compensation for the potential future problems. Does anybody know if you have to give up your rights to sue for compensation if you then them up on the offer?

 

[sheehs1]

Since I have not received a letter from Anthem (but my daughter did) and wanting to be a bit more proactive on this hack matter, I did some google searches, found a law firm in PA and emailed the lawyer. I wanted to know more about national efforts for a class action. He replied via email and suggested I call 877-263-7995 and speak with an Anthem representative and ask them "was my data stolen?". That is the same AllClearID number on the Anthem site. When I asked them the question, "was my data actually stolen?", they transferred me to an Anthem representative. I asked him the question. After getting my name and address, he confirmed my data was stolen. I asked about the mailings telling him I had not received one but my daughter had. He could not speak to that. Point is, it is the first communication that my data actually was stolen. I was 100% sure it had been but I had yet to receive anything from Anthem stating that it was. Even the form letter they sent my daughter did not say, "your data was stolen".

So…for anyone still wondering it may be worth a phone call. Just make sure you get transferred to an Anthem rep. They have representatives who respond to that question by running a query and it is either "yes" or "no".

The lawyer is suppose to call tomorrow. Preliminarily this is part of his email response today,
"There are essentially two options to consider which I will explain in greater detail tomorrow - you can look to take an active role as what is called a "class representative." Alternatively, you do not have to do anything now, and remain a member of the class, entitled to share in any recovery down the road." (Just as Gumby stated earlier)

 

[Options]

Unless you are interested in being one of the named, representative plaintiffs, you probably won't need to do anything.
...

I've consulted with attorneys and will be among those who is a named representative plaintiff in California. I view the 2 year credit monitoring/restoration offered by Anthem as wholly inadequate, particularly given the amount and type of personal information exposed. There is no guarantee this stolen information will not surface decades into the future, given that the format is digital in nature and can easily be sold/transmitted/other.

At a minimum, I'm interested in the following relief: free credit monitoring and credit restoration services for life; and unlimited (paid for) ability to place and release a freeze on my file at all 3 credit bureaus for life.

 

[ClockWatcher]

Additional Credit Freezes

Hi everyone,

Like many others, I have been caught up recent Internet security breaches. The Anthem hack was the sixth in the past ten years and, because it included Social Security numbers, was by far the most serious. I share Chuckanut’s view that credit monitoring services are no better than waving goodbye to the horse after it has already left the barn. The only real defenses, in my opinion, however imperfect, are security freezes. Since 2006, I have had security freezes at:
Equifax
Experian
Innovis
TransUnion

In 2010, I implemented a security freeze at:
ChexSystems

This week I put security freezes in place at:
Certegy
CoreLogic Credco
NCTUE

And last night, I learned that security freezes are available at:
Clarity
LexisNexis
RealPage
SafeRent
SageStream
I will be completing the necessary paperwork/phone calls with them next week.

In my searches, I found guides to many more consumer reporting agencies:
http://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/201501_cfpb_list-consumer-reporting-agencies.pdf
http://www.consumer-action.org/downloads/english/specialty_report_directory.pdf
Do A Total Background Check On Yourself – Consumerist

Many of the companies listed in these guides seem as though they should offer security freezes, but I was unable to locate anything on their websites. I am now appealing to the collective knowledge available here: Do you know of any other companies that have established processes to set up a security freeze?

On a side note: I don’t post very often – although I still read posts when I can. I no longer seem to be able to post new threads, only reply to existing ones. Is there a setting I need to change?

Thanks!

 

[audreyh1]

On a side note: I don’t post very often – although I still read posts when I can. I no longer seem to be able to post new threads, only reply to existing ones. Is there a setting I need to change?

Thanks!

Are you sure you didn't place some type of freeze on early-retirement.org?

Sorry - couldn't resist.

That is a very thorough list and I appreciate you posting it.

 

[ClockWatcher]

Are you sure you didn't place some type of freeze on early-retirement.org?

I should have seen that one coming!

I'm glad you appreciated the list.

Take care

 

[MichaelB]

On a side note: I don’t post very often – although I still read posts when I can. I no longer seem to be able to post new threads, only reply to existing ones. Is there a setting I need to change?

There's no setting that would stop you from starting new threads. Clearing cache seems to fix lots of problems. Try creating a new thread here Forum Admin - Early Retirement & Financial Independence Community

 

[killingme]

I agree that two years does not even begin to cover the exposure that this breach has caused. The idea that the bad guys are going to forget they have this information after two years is so absurd it's laughable...to quote a line from Justified's Art Mullen - "Well he's a criminal Raylan, why would he lie to me?"

 

[Corporate ORphan]

Anthem doesn't recognize my id/pw

I got a letter in the mail with a survey from a doctor I didn't use (same hospital so I didn't think much of it.) TRIED to get onto the Anthem site and it doesn't recognize my husband's or my ids/pws. Then I tried to get them thru the site and Anthem didn't recognize my policy number with our birthdates so I called. The automated line wouldn't work and they told me to call back during normal business hours to speak to a rep.

DH went to a doctor last week and there wasn't an issue but who knows if they checked the insurance.

Since Anthem doesn't recognize our birthdates with our policy numbers I think it's just them messing up (would a crook change our birth dates?) and the hospital messing up on the survey with the wrong doctor name but it doesn't make me "warm and fuzz" since Anthem has been hacked.

Anyone have or heard or this issue??

 

[MRG]

I got a letter in the mail with a survey from a doctor I didn't use (same hospital so I didn't think much of it.) TRIED to get onto the Anthem site and it doesn't recognize my husband's or my ids/pws. Then I tried to get them thru the site and Anthem didn't recognize my policy number with our birthdates so I called. The automated line wouldn't work and they told me to call back during normal business hours to speak to a rep.

DH went to a doctor last week and there wasn't an issue but who knows if they checked the insurance.

Since Anthem doesn't recognize our birthdates with our policy numbers I think it's just them messing up (would a crook change our birth dates?) and the hospital messing up on the survey with the wrong doctor name but it doesn't make me "warm and fuzz" since Anthem has been hacked.

Anyone have or heard or this issue??

No but I wouldn't worry too much. Call Anthem on Monday. Chances their websites having issues and throwing any old error message. Happens all the time on my BCBS.

The hackers as far as has been released just read data. It would take more authority to the database to alter data. Anthem said read, it's pretty easy to tell day 1 if data are altered as it would be in the transaction logs(or whatever their particular DBMS calls them). That would be something you would expect the investigation to figure out quickly, as you leave many more and different footprints if your updating data.

 

[Chuckanut]

on

I just got my letter from a regional insurance company telling me that my information may have been accessed by individuals who broke into their computer systems and stayed there for over seven (7) months!!!!

What a joke!

Seven months in their computer system before being noticed. Good grief!

off

 

[Live Free]

It did cost the Target CEO his job.

So yeah definitely punish the executives here.

Yeah, he lost his job. With a $15.9M severance package as well as continuing to pull down his base salary of $1.5M while he continued to serve in an advisory role. That must have been really tough on him and I'm sure will deter other CEOs that ignore data security.

It is so frustrating that ignoring data security seems so prevalent and also seems to carry little in consequences for offending companies and government entities.

 

[Live Free]

My DH got his Anthem letter last week. I'm guessing mine and the kiddos letters are coming soon. I need to read up on how to secure my minor kid's credit. I guess I need to wait until I get an Anthem letter before signing them up for the credit monitoring service. I am putting freezes on all accounts.

 

[Corporate ORphan]

Since I have not received a letter from Anthem (but my daughter did) and wanting to be a bit more proactive on this hack matter, I did some google searches, found a law firm in PA and emailed the lawyer. I wanted to know more about national efforts for a class action. He replied via email and suggested I call 877-263-7995 and speak with an Anthem representative and ask them "was my data stolen?". That is the same AllClearID number on the Anthem site. When I asked them the question, "was my data actually stolen?", they transferred me to an Anthem representative. I asked him the question. After getting my name and address, he confirmed my data was stolen. I".

So…for anyone still wondering it may be worth a phone call. Just make sure you get transferred to an Anthem rep. They have representatives who respond to that question by running a query and it is either "yes" or "no".

I called and surprise, surprise, I and DH were NOT part of the hack.
Afterwards, we wondered how we would know for sure she looked up the names correctly? We have an apostrophe in our last name so that our insurance cards look like O is our middle initial. She only asked for our names and DOB. Anyone have an experience like ours that they said we weren't part of the hack? We were thinking of calling again to confirm with another rep.