WellPoint Inc. enrollees’ protected health information and other personal
records, including Social Security numbers, may have been exposed via the
Internet for an unspecified period of time, WellPoint said Tuesday, April 8.
The membership-based health insurer said two computer servers on which the
records were stored were maintained by a third-party vendor and were not
properly secured, according to a statement from the Indianapolis-based health
insurer. The snafu affected approximately 130,000 customers, according to
WellPoint.
WellPoint said that it has notified all possibly affected members and has
offered free credit monitoring and customer service support. The insurer said
both servers were “not properly secured” in 2007.
WellPoint said both servers
are now secured and that it is conducting an internal investigation to find out
the cause of the problem.
“We have taken the appropriate steps to secure the data and will continue to
work with all vendors to reduce the risk of future incidents,” WellPoint said in
a statement. “We are notifying all members who could have been affected by this
incident, as well as regulatory officials.”
Filed by Jeff Casale of Business Insurance, a sister publication of Workforce
Management. To comment, e-mail editors@workforce.com.
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