Anthem, which some estimate to be
the largest health insurer in the country, has agreed to settle litigation over
hacking in 2015 that compromised about 79 million people's personal information.
The settlement amount is reported to be for $115 million, making the deal the
largest settlement ever for a data breach. The settlement must still be
approved by U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California, who is
presiding over the case. Over one-hundred lawsuits filed against Anthem were
consolidated in Judge Koh’s court.
The money will go to pay for two
years of credit monitoring for people affected by the data breach. Victims are
believed to include current and former customers of Anthem and of other
insurers affiliated with Anthem through the national Blue Cross Blue Shield
Association.
The credit monitoring in the
settlement is in addition to the two years of credit monitoring Anthem offered
victims when it announced the breach in February 2015. In February 2015 an
unknown hacker had accessed a database containing personal information,
including names, dates of birth, social security numbers, home addresses, email
addresses, and employment and income information. The attack supposedly did not
compromise credit card information or medical information.
The breach is just one of a
series of high-profile data breaches over the last several years. Other large
corporations that were hacked include Target, which agreed to pay $18.5 million
to settle claims, and Home Depot which agreed to pay at least $19.5 million to
consumers last year.
