Premera Blue Cross stated that it has been the victim of a “sophisticated” cyberattack, in which its systems and databases were breached. The multi-state insurer which is based in Mountlake Terrace, Washington, offers health insurance and serves millions of users across Washington, Oregon, and Alaska, among other states. Premera News the official website of Premera said that 11 million customers, including members, prospective members and associated brands were affected by the breach. According to the company, the compromised data includes personal information of members and applicants was taken, including names, date of birth records, email and postal addresses, phone numbers, Social Security numbers, and bank account information. Incidentally , the attack on Premera’s systems occurred at the same time as the Anthem health insurance breach on January 29 Premera warned in late February that it was “processing” Anthem’s data to see if its customers were affected by the breach. As with the massive Anthem hack, the Premera hackers also eyed the claims and clinical information of its customers. The reason that more and more cyber criminals are targeting the healthcare sector is the lucrative underground market for such information. While stolen credit card data fetch around $5 to $15 on the dark net forums, medical information of an individual can fetch upwards of $20. Primera has stated the it has no information of such data used fraudulently as of now but it is a well known fact that such data props up on the dark net market place months after the breach happens.
