Excellus announces cyberattack
On Sept. 9, Excellus BlueCross BlueShield, a health insurance company in upstate New York, announced that it was a target of a sophisticated cyberattack.
Excellus says the cyberattack affects approximately 10 million people. This number could decrease due to duplicate records. Visit www.excellusfacts.com for details on the steps Excellus is taking in response to this incident.
Excellus and Regence are separate companies. Excellus and Regence are each independent licensees of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. This affiliation allows Blue Cross Blue Shield customers to access medical care in any part of the country. Members of other Blue Cross Blue Shield plans who have sought treatment in the 31 county upstate New York service area of Excellus BlueCross BlueShield may be affected. We are working with Excellus to understand the potential impact on our members.
While Regence’s information system was not hacked or affected in any way, we understand the worry and concern that an incident like this causes. Our data security team maintains multiple safeguards to protect personal information. They continually monitor our systems for incidents and work with data security experts to evaluate our capabilities against the latest threats.
Collectively, Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies are committed to doing everything possible to ensure the security and privacy of our customers against those who are intent on stealing personal information. Staying ahead of these very serious threats has been, and will continue to be, a top priority across the Blue Cross Blue Shield system.
We will post updates as we have additional information.