In a news segment, anchors discuss the massive cyberattack on Anthem Health Insurance, which exposed personal data of approximately 80 million customers, including names, birthdates, Social Security numbers, addresses, emails, and income information. Identity‑security expert Robert Siciliano, owner of Hotspot Shield, explains that the stolen Social Security numbers enable new‑account fraud and identity theft, as criminals will likely broker the data to open credit cards, loans, and bank accounts in victims’ names. He urges consumers to act immediately by placing a credit freeze, enrolling in identity‑theft protection services, installing antivirus software, and using a wireless VPN such as Hotspot Shield. Anthem has acknowledged the breach, is working with the FBI and a security firm to investigate, and is notifying affected current and former customers. The segment emphasizes the ongoing threat of hacking and the need for proactive personal security measures.
Chapters
In the meantime, we want to talk about this. Anthem Insurance is the victim of what could be the largest cyberattack ever carried out against a healthcare company. It's incredible.
Hackers may have accessed the records of 80 million customers. Linda Schmitz in the newsroom with what investigators are saying about this scary stuff.
Linda, it really is. And when you think about the magnitude of this, it's pretty overwhelming. It's mind-boggling when you think about it. Well, Anthem, first of all, is the second largest health insurer in the country. And when you talk to security experts, they say, look, the bottom line is this: this is just the way it is now. Hacking is going to be a part —part of our lives forever. So as consumers, we need to be proactive and take steps to protect ourselves. Hackers hit the jackpot at Anthem Health Insurance Company. They cracked into Anthem's database containing 80 million records including names, birthdates, Social Security numbers, street and email addresses, and incomes.
It's Social Security numbers. Uh, millions of people could be at risk for new account fraud, essentially pure identity theft.
Robert Siciliano is an identity security expert and the owner of Hotspot Shield, which provides security for wireless connections. He says having Social Security numbers is like having the keys to the kingdom.
More than likely, what you're going to see is criminals will be brokering this information, meaning that they will be selling it to other criminals who will then open up new lines of credit under our names, getting new credit cards, new bank accounts, and new loans, and turning that data quickly into cash.
Anthem Insurance tweeted, we take information security seriously and are working with FBI and and security firm to determine who is responsible. Siciliano says consumers need to take immediate action to protect themselves.
Right now, I think it's important that consumers go online and they invest in getting a credit freeze. A credit freeze will lock down your social, lock down your credit report so your numbers can't be used to open up new lines of credit.
And he highly recommends taking even more steps to protect your digital data.
They need to invest in identity theft protection, get a credit freeze, get antivirus for their PCs, get a wireless VPN like Hotspot Shield, because right now this is happening and it's going to happen now and in the future.
And Anthem discovered that hack last week and immediately contacted the FBI. The company right now is in the process of notifying both current and past customers who could be affected by this. Stephen Derry, back up to you.
