Class Action Lawsuit filed Against Anthem After Major Security Breach

Frank Azar

A class-action lawsuit has been filed against Anthem following a major security

breach that impacted roughly 80 million

Americans.

According to 10news.com, the lawsuit, filed Tuesday in San Diego, “claims breach of contract, negligence and invasion of privacy”. At this point it is one of multiple

lawsuits filed against the insurance company.

Attorney Katrina Carroll said “the lawsuit is to send a message to companies that this is a very serious issue

and they need to take every step possible to protect this highly critical information”. Additionally, Tom Hargrove, National Correspondent for Scripps, said that once you go to a doctor, you immediately become vulnerable, as your records are electronic and thus available to cyber

thieves. Hargrove also stated that “the FBI warned about a cyber attack nearly a year ago.”

The article continues to state that due to the fact that the medical industry’s security measures are lagging,

specifically when compared to those of the financial and retail sectors, this type of a cyber intrusion was very

likely and does not come as a surprise.

Following this security breach, Anthem is now warning customers of additional phishing scams. Some customers

have received legitimate looking emails sent from Anthem itself; however, they are a scam. The emails

inform recipients of the breach and encourage them to click a link to get “a free year of credit card protection”.

In reality these emails are designed for the mere purpose of stealing your personal information.

According to a company spokesperson, Anthem currently covers 8 million Californians. They are working

closely with the FBI to rectify the situation and hope to “earn back customers’ trust and confidence”.

In the meantime, Anthem is warning customers to not click any suspicious looking email links or give out personal information over the phone. Anthem has

confirmed that they are not reaching out to people via phone, so if customers do receive a call from a person

claiming to be an Anthem employee, it is in fact a scam artist trying to obtain personal data.