Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway and 9 other state attorneys general from across the country joined in a letter sent to Anthem's president and chief executive officer, expressing concern that the company's delay in notifying those impacted by the data breach is causing unnecessary added concern to Anthem customers.
"We are asking Anthem to provide further information without unnecessary delay to those whose personal information was impacted by the data breach," said Attorney General Conway.
"We believe that Anthem must provide details to those customers affected by the breach and tell them how to access the credit monitoring and identity theft protections that the company has said it will provide to them,” added Conway.
Excerpt from the letter:
"As you know, your company experienced a massive data breach on January 27, 2015, exposing the detailed personal information entrusted to Anthem by as many as 80 million individuals across the country, or perhaps even more. The purpose of this letter is to express our alarm at the failure of the company to communicate with affected individuals and, in particular, to provide them details about the protections the company will make available and how to access those protections.
I have publicly commended Anthem for the relative speed at which it disclosed the breach. On or about the same date that Anthem announced the breach - February 4, 2015 – the company assured me and others that free credit monitoring and identity theft protections would be afforded to those impacted by the breach. Since that date, however, few follow-up details have been made available, and none at all about how individuals can sign up for the protections Anthem will provide them.
As the days pass with no direct communications from Anthem, our offices are receiving more and more communications from constituents expressing greater and greater frustration. Their frustration is justified. The delay in notifying those impacted is unreasonable and is causing unnecessary added worry to an already concerned population of Anthem customers. We are also concerned that delays in providing protections to the victims of this breach compounds the risk they face.
Anthem must communicate detailed information without any further unnecessary delay. Further, Anthem must commit to reimbursing consumers for any losses associated with this breach during the time period between the breach and the date that the company provides access to credit and identity theft safeguards."
The attorneys general of Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island, led by the state of Connecticut, have joined the letter.
(story provided by Kentucky Office of the Attorney General)
