COLUMBUS, Ga. (WRBL) — Officials with Aflac have confirmed that hackers breached the insurance giant with social security numbers, insurance claims and health information being possibly stolen, according to company officials.
Officials say it noticed potential activity that seemed suspicious on June 12, which led the company to follow its protocol after cyber incidents.
Right now, Aflac has become the biggest victim yet in the ongoing digital assault towards U.S.-based insurance companies by hackers.
Aflac says the cybercriminals possibly accessed certain files that contained sensitive information such as health information, insurance claims, social security numbers, along with other key information.
Aflac also says that its systems were not affected by any ransomware and operational systems were not affected by the breach. The company expressed that the investigation is still at its early stages.
The insurance giant issued a press release on Friday addressing the incident by saying:
"Aflac Incorporated (NYSE: AFL) identified suspicious activity on our network in the United States. We promptly initiated our cyber incident response protocols and stopped the intrusion within hours. Importantly, our business remains operational, and our systems were not affected by ransomware. We continue to serve our customers as we respond to this incident and can underwrite policies, review claims, and otherwise service our customers as usual. This attack, like many insurance companies are currently experiencing, was caused by a sophisticated cybercrime group. This was part of a cybercrime campaign against the insurance industry."
"We have engaged leading third-party cybersecurity experts to support our response to this incident. While the investigation remains in its early stages, in the spirit of transparency and care for our customers, we are sharing that our preliminary findings indicate that the unauthorized party used social engineering tactics to gain access to our network. Additionally, we have commenced a review of potentially impacted files. It is important to note that the review is in its early stages, and we are unable to determine the total number of affected individuals until that review is completed. The potentially impacted files contain claims information, health information, social security numbers, and/or other personal information, related to customers, beneficiaries, employees, agents, and other individuals in our U.S. business. We remain committed to caring for and supporting our customers. While our teams work to review the potentially impacted data and determine the specific information involved, we are offering any individual who contacts our dedicated call center free credit monitoring and identity theft protection, and Medical Shield for 24 months."
The company encourages anyone with additional questions to contact its call center at 1-855-361-0305.
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