Anthem (the parent company of Blue Cross/Blue Shield) has had a major data breach recently. The bad guys were able to get names, addresses, Social Security numbers and a host of other data. Anthem assures us that no medical data was breached. But, the data that was stolen is more than enough to steal identities and bill Anthem for false medical claims. ID theft protection services do very little to protect you! The best ID theft firewall is a credit freeze on all three of your Credit Reporting agencies. The cost is minimal and the protection makes you bullet proof. When you freeze your credit, the Credit Reporting Agencies will give you a PIN – save that incase you need to thaw your credit! There is an easy guide on Clark Howard’s web site: http://www.clarkhoward.com/news/clark-howard/personal-finance-credit/credit-freeze-and-thaw-guide/nFbL/. Clark Howard is a non-political consumer advocate! In addition to the credit freeze, check your Medical Statements from Blue Cross/Blue Shield very carefully for false charges.
Anthem was fined many months ago for a similar breach but took no action to secure their data. It’s not that hard to break into a system. You take a portable flash drive to a coffee shop near the targeted data center and leave it on the coffee table. Someone will eventually take it to work, plug in the flash drive to the company computer to see what’s on it. The virus is then inside the company’s firewall! Even easier is to make a random call to someone who works in the company while at work. Start a casual conversation that may include insider type information. You tell the person inside that you are having trouble logging into the system and ask for their help. Your in!!!
thecomputerguy2014 