Anthem Blue Cross Hacked

Anthem Inc. insurance company says their database was hacked, putting the personal information about 80 million people at risk. 

The second-largest health insurer says hackers obtained currently and previously covered in a "very sophisticated" cyber attack. Hackers gained access to names, birthdates, email addresses, employment details, social security numbers, incomes, and street addresses. However, Anthem says it doesn't know if customers' credit or medical information was not compromised. They are not sure exactly how many people have been affected by the breach.  

"We will continue to do everything in our power to make our systems and security processes better and more secure," said Anthem President and CEO Joseph R. Swedish. 

Anthem says it will individually notify customers whose information was compromised. 

Some USC students are concerned about the security breach. 

"It makes me concerned, it really does, because it seems like these sort of data breaches are happening more and more often," said senior Jillian Olivas.

Cyber security experts have also noticed the the trend of hackers, as seen with the recent hacking of personal information at Target and Home Depot. 

"There's a group of hackers out there that really do it for notoriety, and the bar keeps getting raised," said Michael Orosz, Associate Director of the Information Sciences Institute. 

Consumer experts say there are other options for people enrolling in health insurance coverage. 

"We're urging consumers to know that they can opt out of data sharing because the company has not provided adequate privacy protections," said Carmen Balber, Executive Director of Consumer Watchdog. 

However, experts warn that people should be aware that their information is not private. 

"People need to realize that there's no such thing as full privacy. You just need to be aware that everything you do, this is information that could be exposed," said Orosz. 

The FBI is investigating the data breach further.