Anthem Victim of ‘Very Sophisticated’ Cyberattack That Could Affect Up To 80 Million People

Anthem, one of the nation's largest health insurance companies, said Wednesday that its "state-of-the-art information security systems" was the "target of a very sophisticated external cyber attack" last week that resulted in hackers gaining access to the personal information of approximately 80 million individuals.

"These attackers gained unauthorized access to Anthem’s IT system and have obtained personal information from our current and former members such as their names, birthdays, medical IDs/social security numbers, street addresses, email addresses and employment information, including income data," Anthem president and CEO Joseph Swedish said in a statement posted online.

2/ Data accessed may include names, health ID/SSN, birthdate, address, phone, email, employment info, etc. More at https://t.co/ilKRmawhM6

— Anthem, Inc. (@AnthemInc) February 5, 2015

Swedish added that there was no immediate evidence that credit card or medical information was stolen by the hackers.

The FBI was immediately contacted by Anthem after the health insurance company discovered the hack, according to Swedish.

4/ We take info security seriously & are working w/ @FBI & security firm @Mandiant to determine who is responsible. https://t.co/ilKRmawhM6

— Anthem, Inc. (@AnthemInc) February 5, 2015

Those who may have had personal information stolen will receive free credit monitoring and identify protection services from Anthem, the company said.

The hack comes just months after hackers thought to be acting under orders from the North Korean government executed a devastating cyberattack on Sony Pictures.

In December, Target also announced that about 40 million credit and debit card accounts were stolen in the second-largest breach in U.S. history.

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Featured image via TheBlaze / Oliver Darcy