Healthcare Data of 840,000 at Risk After Laptop Theft

Thieves stole two laptops that may contain the unprotected personal data of around 840,000 customers from Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield after breaking into the company's Newark, N.J. headquarters on Nov. 1. One month later, the company began sending letters to its subscribers notifying them of the breach.

Horizon issued a statement on Dec. 6 saying the stolen laptops were password protected, but the internal data was not encrypted.

Due to the way the stolen laptops were configured, we are not certain that all of the member information contained on the laptops is accessible. We have no reason to believe that the laptops were stolen for the information they contained or that the information has been accessed or used in any way. Read more...