If you have a health insurance plan through Premera Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alaska, your personal information may be vulnerable to a data breach. Â According to Premera, about 650,000 Alaskans are among the 11 million people potentially affected by a cyberattack of the health insurance company.
A Premera press release says attackers may have gained access to customers’ names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, mailing addresses and bank account information.
Eric Earling is vice president of communications at Premera Blue Cross based in Washington.
“This is data going back to 2002, so this affects current and former members, in addition to other individuals and organizations with whom we may have done business,” he said.
Earling says Premera is the largest health plan in Alaska. It has about 110,000 current members in the state.
The health insurance company discovered the attack at the end of January and notified the FBI, which is now part of the investigation. Premera issued a press release about the cyberattack and notified employers and health brokers on Tuesday. It also plans on mailing letters to notify everyone potentially affected.
Premera’s offering two years of free credit monitoring and identity theft protection services.
Customers can sign up at the website premeraupdate.com or by calling 1-800-768-5817.
Lisa Phu is a reporter at KTOO in Juneau.
