Anthem to pay record $115m to settle US lawsuits over data breach: Report

US-based health insurer Anthem has agreed to settle litigation over hacking in 2015 that compromised about 79 million people's personal information for $115 million, which lawyers said would be the largest settlement ever for a data breach, Reuters reported on June 23.

Anthem didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment by Intelligent Insurer.

The money from the deal will be used to pay for two years of credit monitoring for people affected by the hack, lawyers reportedly said. Victims are believed to include current and former customers of Anthem and of other insurers affiliated with Anthem through the national Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, according to Reuters.

People who are already enrolled in credit monitoring may choose to receive cash instead, which may be up to $50 per person, according to a motion filed in California federal court Friday.

The deal must still be approved by US district judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California, who is presiding over the case.

The credit monitoring in the settlement is in addition to the two years of credit monitoring Anthem offered victims when it announced the breach in February 2015, according to Anthem spokeswoman Jill Becher, who said the company was pleased to be resolving the litigation.

Anthem said in February 2015 that an unknown hacker had accessed a database containing personal information, including names, birthdays, social security numbers, addresses, email addresses and employment and income information. The attack did not compromise credit card information or medical information, the company said.

Save 20% on selected tickets at  Intelligent InsurTECH Europe 2017 with the discount code "Save20"

Today’s stories

Insurance industry warned the UK government on fire risk before Grenfell disaster

Allianz expects €200m loss from unit sale: Report

Global reinsurers ask EU for mutual market access with Britain post-Brexit: Report

AF Group launches new specialty unit; hires Halter for P&C programmes

Trust Re hires Endurance exec to lead Labuan branch

Underwriting duo from NFU Mutual and Endsleigh join Horizon

Did you enjoy reading this story?  Sign up to our free daily newsletters and get stories like this sent straight to your inbox.