The news of the Anthem BC/BS data breach spread fast. Faster than Anthem seems to be responding to clients about it, unfortunately. But not as fast as the attackers have started to use the information stolen. Reports have already surfaced of phishing emails from the attackers to victims.
There is a lot of advice being offered by everyone (except Anthem) on what should be done. Perhaps it is out of embarrassment – How could one of the largest health insurance providers have all that information un-encrypted and stolen? They have put together a FAQ for customers, but it is void of much information, and seems to indicate it will be weeks before customers are notified of steps they should take to protect themselves.
In the meantime, there are many websites offering advice, from monitoring your credit reports, to freezing your credit, to watch for fraudulent filing of your income taxes. All of this is very scary. But the most bone-chilling of them all comes from the advice at www.pcworld.com:
Monitor your children
Kevin Duggan, CEO of Camouflage Software, says, “Anthem should be of interest because of who will likely bear the brunt of the damage: young children and the elderly.”
Children in particular don’t actively use credit or apply for loans, so they’re less likely to discover fraudulent activity. Duggan points out, “a five-year-old child today will not likely realize their credit has been destroyed by fraudulent activity until it comes time for them to use it to apply for student loans in about 13 years.”
This Experian site contains a lot of helpful explanations and information about how to manage and protect a minor’s credit history. The challenge is that there is nothing to monitor until or unless the child has a credit history, and according to Experian there are reasons that you would not want to preemptively establish and freeze a credit history in your child’s name.
In any case, you have everything to gain by checking regularly to make sure no credit history has been created using your child’s Social Security number.
Have concerns about your company’s security?
Don’t let your company become another victim of attackers like Anthem. Call the security experts at Great Lakes Computer for advice and information about our Data Security products for your business.
