Aetna Security Breech

SteveS · May 4, 2006

News Story

Aetna says laptop with member data stolen
By Reuters
URL: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6066078.html

Health insurer Aetna on Wednesday said a laptop computer containing personal information on about 38,000 of its members was stolen from an employee's car.

The data includes names, addresses and Social Security numbers, spokeswoman Cynthia Michener said. No personal banking information or health claim data was on the laptop, she added.

The members are employees of two companies that are Aetna customers, the company said in a statement. Michener said the two companies had asked that their names not be disclosed.

"They wanted all of their employees to have received their notifications directly before releasing their name," Michener said.

According to the statement, there was no indication that data on the laptop had been compromised. "We have no reason to believe that there has been any unauthorized use of it," the company said.

Aetna, with about 27.9 million members, is one of the largest health care insurers in the United States.

The company said it is working to notify all affected members by letter. Aetna has offered to pay for credit monitoring services for the affected members to help prevent potential misuse of the information.

The car was broken into while it was in an outdoor public parking lot, Michener said. The doors were locked, she added.

Michener declined to say in which city or state the theft occurred.

She said the company is working with law enforcement authorities, but would not say whether it was local police, or state or federal investigators.

The company has not heard from law enforcement whether any suspects have been identified, arrested or charged with a crime.

Aetna said it deeply regrets the incident and has apologized to its members.

It is augmenting its efforts to ensure employee compliance with all of its security requirements, the company said.

Aetna said the employee "did not follow our corporate policies, and it was coupled with a criminal theft."

Michener declined to say whether the employee still works for the company.

Story Copyright Â© 2006 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. [/b]
Click to expand...

Wellâ€¦ at least they apologizedâ€¦ I mean, you know, for all those people who have now had their identities compromisedâ€¦. At least they know Aetna is sorryâ€¦

I donâ€™t understand how these companies can repeatedly allow employees to take information like this off of corporate systems. This keeps happeningâ€¦ The person who removed this data from corporate systems should be fired and prosecuted, and both they and the company should be held financially and criminally liable for any damages incurred by the people who have had their identities compromisedâ€¦

I really think that extreme measures such as this are going to need to be taken and enforced before these companies will wake up and get serious about securityâ€¦

Thoughts? Is it just me whoâ€™s sick of seeing this in the news, or does everyone just accept this as a fact of life in our modern society?

SteveS · May 7, 2006

....bump.....?

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Aetna Security Breech

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