CohenMalad, LLP filed a class action lawsuit on Thursday, February 5, 2015, on behalf of 80 million current and former Anthem customers whose personal information was compromised by computer hackers. Anthem reported Wednesday, February 4, 2015, that its database of 80 million clients was compromised in a security breach. It stated that cyber-thieves accessed sensitive information including customer names, social security numbers, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, employee information and income information.
The lawsuit seeks to certify a class of 80 million current and former Anthem customers residing across the United States who were victims of the massive data breach and are now susceptible to financial fraud schemes. The lawsuit alleges Anthem was negligent in safeguarding consumer information and failed to provide adequate and timely notice of the breach.
Court documents state Anthem detected the security breach on January 29, 2015, but did not make a public announcement until February 4, 2015. Media has reported that Anthem was aware of a breach as early as December 10, 2014.
The lawsuit also points out that this security breach is not the first time that Anthem’s computer systems have been compromised. In 2013, Anthem agreed to pay $1.7 million to resolve federal allegations that it exposed protected health information of more than 612,000 of its customers after cyber-thieves accessed its database.
Court documents also point out the FBI ‘s Cyber Division issued a public Private Industry Notification titled “Health Care Systems and Medical Devices at Risk for Increased Cyber Intrusions for Financial Gain” specifically noting that cyber thieves find the black market for medical records to be more lucrative and that healthcare systems have lax cyber security standards.
Watch attorney Lynn Toops’ interview with Gerri Willis of Fox Business News Willis Report
