U.S. Investigators Accuse China of Hacking Health Insurer 'Anthem'
Desiree Sison | | Feb 06, 2015 08:35 AM EST |
(Photo : Reuters)
United States cybersecurity investigators have accused China of hacking Anthem, the second largest U.S. health insurer, in what experts said was the most massive cybersecurity breach in history.
A member of the U.S. investigation team, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said there may have been more cyberattacks against other health care companies allegedly conducted by China, including Anthem's massive security breach.
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Security experts reportedly said health care has become the target of hackers because of its vast stores of lucrative financial and medical information.
The hackers were able to gain access to the private data of 80 million current and former members and employees of Anthem in one of the largest medical-related cyberattacks to hit health care.
Investigators said the breach was discovered late last month and was revealed only last week. The hack reportedly did not include private health records and credit card information but it did leak Social Security numbers, email address, income data, birthdays and city addresses of the members.
Experts said linking the attacks to Chinese hackers only meant that there is a bigger campaign to conduct more cyberattacks against health-related companies.
Dmitri Alperovitch, a cybersecurity expert, said he has witnessed Chinese government hackers allegedly target health care providers and gain access to social security numbers, insurance codes, personal identifying information and other personal data in the past six months.
Dmitri said China has been collecting as much information as possible on people that they can make use of later.
He said China has been allegedly involved in the hacks on USIS, an American contractor who conducts background investigations for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
The cybersecurity expert likewise said China allegedly also hacked the state motor vehicles department as well as other agencies in the U.S.
An American lawmaker said that for as long as China hackers continue to attack U.S. agencies and private data of people, the more it will find it easier to hack into military and defense confidential data, and this will be 'very dangerous.'
TagsAnthem, cyberattacks, hackers
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