Re: Blue Cross Blue Shield of TN data breach

[Henry Brown <brownhenrya () gmail com>]

Larger numbers of people at risk:

From the Chattanooga Times http://bit.ly/bZqLqA

Date: 13 April 2010

...

Personal information for nearly 1 million members of BlueCross 
BlueShield of Tennessee was included on computer hard drives stolen from 
an abandoned office last fall, according to a new company report.

The Chattanooga-based health insurer is contacting another 447,549 of 
its customers this month to alert them that their identities may have 
been jeopardized by the theft of 57 computer hard drives last October. 
That nearly doubles the number of BlueCross members already notified 
about the potential threat to their identities.

"We continue to try to be proactive in notifying those who may have had 
some type of record on these computer hard files," BlueCross spokeswoman 
Mary Thompson said.

Nearly one of every three people covered by the Tennessee BlueCross plan 
have received or will be receiving letters from the insurance company 
telling them about the potential identity threat. The company is 
offering free credit monitoring services for the next year and access to 
a Kroll ID TheftSmart program for any of those potentially affected by 
the theft, BlueCross officials said.

So far, there has been no documented incident of identify theft or 
credit fraud of any BlueCross member as a result of the stolen computer 
files.

...


-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [Dataloss-discuss] Blue Cross Blue Shield of TN data breach
From: Henry Brown <hbrown () knology net>
To: dataloss-discuss datalossdb.org <dataloss-discuss () datalossdb org>
Date: 1/28/2010 7:50 AM
> Followup story with significant more details from Chattanooga Times Free
> Press
> http://bit.ly/8vd4sd
>
> What was initially assumed to be just a glitch in some
> soon-to-be-discarded computer equipment last fall has grown into one of
> Chattanooga's most expensive property crimes of the year.
>
> BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee said Monday it already has spent more
> than $7 million to respond to the theft last October of computer hard
> drives from an abandoned office at Eastgate Center.
>
> Although the Chattanooga-based health insurer has adequate reserves to
> absorb such losses, officials said the company may have to spend
> millions more to assess what was on the missing computer records and to
> provide identity protection for affected customers.
>
> The missing computer files contained audio copies of telephone calls and
> records of video screen images that could compromise the identity or
> privacy of up to 500,000 Americans, company officials said.
>
> BlueCross already has notified 220,000 BlueCross customers in Tennessee
> and other states where persons covered by BlueCross of Tennessee plans
> may work.
>
> ...
>
> Determining what was on the 57 stolen computer hard drives  and
> complying with federal and state notification requirements already has
> required the hiring of more than 700 contract and BlueCross workers to
> assess back-up copies of the missing records.
>
> ...
>
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: [Dataloss-discuss] Blue Cross Blue Shield of TN data breach
> From: Henry Brown<hbrown () knology net>
> To: dataloss-discuss datalossdb.org<dataloss-discuss () datalossdb org>
> Date: 1/11/2010 5:21 AM
>    
> >      From Knoxville News:
> >
> > http://tinyurl.com/ycvm8bh
> >
> > January 10, 2010 at 9:41 p.m.
> >
> > CHATTANOOGA - Customers of Chattanooga-based insurer BlueCross
> > BlueShield of Tennessee slowly are being notified by mail of a potential
> > breach of their personal information.
> >
> >      
> ...
>    

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