Aflac, one of many largest insurance coverage firms in america, says hackers stole an unknown amount of its prospects’ private data from its community throughout a cyberattack earlier this month.
The insurance coverage big confirmed Friday in a legally required filing with the U.S. Securities and Trade Fee that the corporate recognized hackers in its system on June 12 and contained the incident. Aflac, which gives supplemental insurance coverage to people whose bills are usually not lined by their main suppliers, mentioned it was not but recognized what number of prospects are affected by the info breach however that the private information consists of prospects’ claims, akin to Social Safety numbers and well being data.
The breach additionally included information from Aflac’s beneficiaries, workers, and brokers, the corporate mentioned.
Aflac mentioned its methods weren’t affected by ransomware, however attributed the breach to an unspecified cybercrime group recognized to be focusing on the U.S. insurance coverage trade. In line with its Friday press release, Aflac mentioned the hackers used social engineering techniques to interrupt into its community.
An Aflac spokesperson, who didn’t present their title, declined to reply TechCrunch’s questions when reached by e-mail on Monday.
Aflac, which has round 50 million prospects per the company’s website, is the cost per click U.S. insurance coverage firm to expertise a cyberattack in current weeks, amid warnings that hackers are focusing on the broader insurance coverage trade.
John Hultquist, the chief analyst for Google’s menace intelligence unit, mentioned final week that the unit was “conscious of a number of intrusions” within the U.S. that bear the hallmarks of exercise linked to Scattered Spider, a loose-knit collective of hackers and techniques that depend on social engineering techniques and typically threats of violence to focus on firm assist desks and name facilities so as to achieve entry to their networks.
The hackers are additionally reportedly behind the current intrusions at Erie Insurance and Philadelphia Insurance Companies, which disclosed cyberattacks this month, with disruption ongoing.
The hackers linked to Scattered Spider assaults are recognized to be financially motivated and have been beforehand linked to cyberattacks and intrusions at tech giants, casinos, and hotels, and recent data breaches throughout the U.Okay. and U.S. retail sector.