21K Blue Shield Calif. members affected by breach

Beth Walsh | | Health Exec | Cybersecurity

A data breach has affected 21,000 Blue Shield of California members.

The breach was detected in December when a vendor notified the organization that an unauthorized user gained access to its data systems. “We believe that the unauthorized access happened between September and December of 2015 and was the result of log-in credentials for certain Blue Shield customer service representatives being misused,” according to a letter that went to those affected. No data systems at Blue Shield were impacted.

Personal information that may have been accessed includes names, addresses, dates of birth and Social Security numbers.

The company said it is working internally and with its vendor to improve overall security procedures. It’s also offering a complimentary one-year membership in an identification protection program.

Beth Walsh,

Editor

Editor Beth earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and master’s in health communication. She has worked in hospital, academic and publishing settings over the past 20 years. Beth joined TriMed in 2005, as editor of CMIO and Clinical Innovation + Technology. When not covering all things related to health IT, she spends time with her husband and three children.

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