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Data breach at Texas insurance company compromises Delaware consumers

Delaware Public Media

A Texas-based third-party administrator for insurance companies has been hacked and it’s affecting people in Delaware.

BenefitMall works with the Delaware insurance companies Highmark BCBS, Aetna, Emblem Health, Humana and UnitedHealth.

BenefitMall recently had a data breach from a phishing scam and a criminal investigation is ongoing. Insurance officials say emails stolen contained the private information of more than 700 Delawareans.

Delaware Insurance Commissioner Trinidad Navarro says that number may go up.

“It’s not clear cut that you have a hypothetical number of 5,000 people that’s confirmed,” said Navarro. “You may have 5,000 entries, but there may be duplicates, there may be missing information. It’s not an easy thing to determine how many people are affected.”

Navarro encourages those affected to take advantage of a free subscription to credit and identity monitoring services offered by Aetna. He says Aetna is notifying those impacted by the breach via US mail—even those who do not have Aetna insurance.

“If you receive that letter don’t toss it. Don’t throw it out,” he said. “Take advantage of that free monitoring program, because this information was stolen and obtained illegally and ultimately they’ll use that information for nefarious reasons.”

Navarro is also pushing for a bill currently in the Delaware General Assembly that would create more requirements for private companies to protect consumer data.

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