Anthem Inc agrees to settle over data breach

Anthem Inc. has agreed to pay $ 115 million for settlement of litigation over hacking in 2015.The company, in February 2015 said that unknown hacker got access to database containing person’s personal information including addresses, social security numbers, birthdays, names, employment/ income information. According to lawyers, this would be the largest settlement ever made for data breach. The company however said that attack did not however compromise client’s medical information or credit card information

Anthem Inc. is United States’ largest insurance company. The hacking compromised more than 79 million people’s personal accounts. The lawyers representing individuals whose personal accounts were compromised, on Friday announced the settlement deal. It is however still awaiting an approval by the U.S District Judge, Lucy Koh in San Jose, who is the presiding judge in the case. At least 100 lawsuits were filed against Anthem Inc. over the data breach were consolidated before Jude Koh.

The lawyers further noted that the $15 million settlement will be used to pay the people who were affected by the hacking menace for credit monitoring. The victims of the data breach are believed to be the current and former Anthem Inc.’s customers as well as the company’s affiliate insurers through national Blue Cross BlueShield Association.

On Friday, a motion was filed in California’s federal court which allows those already enrolled in credit monitoring to choose on receiving cash settlement instead.

In a statement, the victim’s lawyer, Andrew Friedman said that they are satisfied with the settlement deal. He further added that it’s a great deal and they are looking forward to work through the settlement approval process. Anthem Inc.’s spokesman, Jill Becher said that the company was pleased with the data breach litigation. He said that the credit monitoring featured in the settlement has come after two years of credit monitoring that the company offered victims at the announcement of the breach in 2015. Becher also said that there was no evidence that the Indianapolis-based insurance company sold or used any compromised information to commit fraud.

Having said that, if Anthem Inc is in your portfolio, expect volatility as investors continue to react to the developments.

The breach on Anthem Inc. is just one of the many high-profile data breaches which has caused U.S companies to lose hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years. Among the companies that has been affected include Home Depot Inc. which agreed on at least $19.5 million payment for its consumers last year and Target Group, which agreed on $18.5 million payment for settlement claims made by 47 states.