As a business owner you never know what is around the corner, in our latest article we show how even the largest can’t not foresee business risk.
Everyone was shocked when it was revealed on Thursday February 5, 2015 that there had been a large-scale case of identity theft at the nation’s second-largest health insurance company, Anthem. While the true extent of the data breach is not yet known, it is believed that tens of millions of customers could have had their account information accessed by hackers. The company, which is headquartered in Indianapolis and is formerly known as WellPoint, has a massive 80 million customers. This figure includes the company’s employees and CEO, Joseph Swedish.
He broke the devastating news in a statement that was posted on the company’s website. The hackers were able to gain access to Anthem’s computer system and viewed highly confidential personal information on many customer accounts including names, dates of birth, home addresses, email addresses, Social Security numbers, as well as private details concerning their employment such as their income data. However, no credit card information was obtained and there isn’t any evidence to suggest that the data has been sold on the black market. Vitor De Souza, a spokesman for Mandiant, the computer security company that Anthem has hired to evaluate its systems, claimed that it was “the largest health care breach to date.” Anthem is currently offering credit monitoring to all its customers.
This hacking incident is the latest in a series of breaches of well-known companies. Target Corp., Home Depot Inc. and Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. have all been victims of well-orchestrated attacks. What differs in this case is that unlike the other companies, Anthem displayed excellent crisis management. They were able to detect that they had been hacked very quickly and delivered the news to their customers as soon as they discovered the breach. This contrasts sharply with the data breach incident at the large banking institution, J.P Morgan Chase & Co., which occurred last summer. The contact information for about 76 million customers was compromised but the customers only learned about this from media outlets weeks after the bank had made the discovery. This resulted in a significant loss of customer loyalty.
It is important for every business to be aware of the many IT security risks that exist for them in a fast-paced digital world. They must protect themselves from very intelligent cyber hackers who have the means and the commitment to spend many months carefully monitoring the computer systems of large companies, waiting for the perfect moment to pounce. I advise every business owner to hire the best staff and invest in the most up-to-date IT security systems in order to ensure that their customers’ data is protected at all times. It would be naïve to think that these types of attacks only happen at large companies such as Anthem and JP Morgan. They can and will happen to smaller companies, including insurance agencies.
There is nothing worse than losing your customers’ trust. Most of our clients worry about the impact to their business from the loss of a large customer, an economic downturn and a softening insurance market. We content that there are much greater risks including the aging of the owners of the agencies, its staff and customers and the inability or unwillingness to plan for certain events. Although we are in the business of managing risk and often try to protect our client’s from risk, have you thought about how you would react to a security breach within your own company?
