Nationwide Anthem Breach May Impact Commonwealth of Virginia Members

The Department of Human Resource Management’s (DHRM) Office of Health Benefits was notified of the recent breach of Anthem’s information systems. Approximately 280,000 state and local government members are enrolled in the state and The Local Choice (TLC) health plans administered by Anthem. DHRM’s Office of Health Benefits is actively working with Anthem to ascertain what impact the breach will have on employees of the Commonwealth and their dependents.

Anthem has set up a toll-free telephone number and website specific to the nationwide data breach. Members should call the Anthem hotline at 1-877-263-7995 with questions about this incident. A special website at www.anthemfacts.com will be updated with new information as it is received.

Here is the information from Anthem at this time:

• The investigation to date shows the information accessed includes member names, member health ID numbers, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses and employment information.
• Social Security numbers were included in only a subset of consumers that were impacted. Anthem is still working to identify how many Social Security numbers were accessed.
• Anthem’s investigation to date shows that no credit card information or confidential health information was compromised.
• While Anthem is not aware of any fraud that has occurred as a result of this incident against its members, all impacted members will be enrolled in identity repair services. In addition, impacted members will be provided information on how to enroll in free credit monitoring.

Anthem will be mailing a letter to affected members in the coming weeks to advise them of the protections being offered to them as well as any next steps.  

DHRM and JMU’s Human Resources Office will continue to monitor the situation and provide updates to employees as necessary.

Anthem Alerts Consumers to Protect Themselves from Scam Email Campaigns

Virginia residents who may have been impacted by the cyber-attack against Anthem, should be aware of scam email campaigns targeting current and former Anthem members. These scams, designed to capture personal information (known as “phishing”) are designed to appear as if they are from Anthem and the emails include a “click here” link for credit monitoring. These emails are NOT from Anthem.

• DO NOT click on any links in email.
• DO NOT reply to the email or reach out to the senders in any way.
• DO NOT supply any information on the website that may open, if you have clicked on a link in email.
• DO NOT open any attachments that arrive with email.

Anthem is not calling members regarding the cyber-attack and is not asking for credit card information or social security numbers over the phone. This outreach is from scam artists who are trying to trick consumers into sharing personal data. There is no indication that the scam email campaigns are being conducted by those that committed the cyber-attack, or that the information accessed in the attack is being used by the scammers.

Anthem will contact current and former members via mail delivered by the U.S. Postal Service about the cyber-attack with specific information on how to enroll in credit monitoring. Affected members will receive free credit monitoring and ID protection services.

For more guidance on recognizing scam email, please visit the FTC Website: http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0003-phishing.

For more information on the cyber-attack, please visit www.anthemfacts.com.