State receives $3.9M settlement
‘Massive’ data breach at Anthem exposed personal information of 79 million
The state is set to receive $3.9 million as part of a multistate lawsuit filed against Anthem following a “massive” data breach in 2014, Connecticut Attorney General William Tong announced Wednesday.
Connecticut led a 43-state suit against the insurer, Tong said, and a settlement was recently reached between those states and the company.
“Connecticut led the multistate investigation into Anthem’s 2014 data breach, culminating today in a $39.5 million multistate settlement,” Tong said, in a written statement. “Nearly half of all of Connecticut residents were impacted by this massive breach, involving some of our most personal information, including Social Security numbers, phone numbers, healthcare identification numbers, addresses, and more.”
The breach, which began in February 2014, was disclosed publicly by the company about 12 months later, officials said. The data was accessed through phishing emails that included malware. The hackers were able to access much of the company’s data that included personal information from Social Security numbers to home address for 78.8 million customers.
Tong’s office said that 1.7 million people in Connecticut were impacted by the data breach.
Along with reaching a financial settlement, Anthem has agreed to a number of key provisions that range from not misrepresenting the security of individual’s private information, increased security measures and three years of security audits.
The company previously reached a class action settlement that created a $115 million fund for credit monitoring, cash payments and reimbursements for losses for impacted customers, Tong’s office said. However, the time to file a claim has passed.
Tong used the announced settlement to highlight his office’s commitment to addressing data theft and online security. Tong predecessor, George Jensen, was one of the first attorneys general in the country to establish a unit dedicated to privacy and data security.
“This settlement sends a strong message that state attorneys general will fight to protect consumer privacy and data security,” he said.