Health insurance provider Anthem got hacked last week and over 80 million of personal data from both their clients and employees were reportedly stolen.
According to Mercury News, the early 2015 Anthem hack took place some time last week and the largest for-profit managed health care company only revealed the incident this Wednesday.
Investigators are said to be working on the case right now and they have learned that most of the information retrieved by hackers comprised names, birthdays, addresses and even Social Security numbers.
Despite the alarming news, Anthem are reassuring their clients that their medical information, credit card numbers and bank account numbers remained untouched by the hackers.
Anthem spokesman Darrel NG said that right after they learned about the hacking incident, they made an abrupt and effective effort to "close the security vulnerability."
"We take consumers' privacy very seriously and are doing everything in our power to make our systems and security processes -- and most importantly your data -- more secure," Ng said. "In the meantime, as we learn more, we will continue to provide updates."
Anthem President Joseph Swedish also spoke of the hacking incident on the insurer's website saying, "I want to personally apologize to each of you for what has happened, as I know you expect us to protect your information."
"We will continue to do everything in our power to make our systems and security processes better and more secure, and hope that we can earn back your trust and confidence in Anthem," Swedish added.
USA Today has learned via Mandiant spokesman Vitor De Souza that the data breach is currently "the largest health care breach to date."
Clients are requested to view the website www.anthemfacts.com if they want to learn more about the breach.
As of late, Anthem is providing credit monitoring and identity protection services that are free of charge.
This is not the first time Anthem is walking on thin ice due to a hacking incident.
In 2012, Anthem Blue Cross settled a lawsuit brought by California Attorney General Kamala Harris after the scandalous leak of over 33,000 health plan members, reports Wired.
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