Anthem Agrees to $115 Million Settlement for 2015 Breach

On Friday, June 23, Anthem Healthcare agreed to settle a series of lawsuits related to the company's 2015 data breach, which impacted 78.8 million individuals. The settlement includes a payment of $115 million and three years of additional security protections.

Most of the money will be allotted to an additional two years of credit monitoring and identity protection services, and $15 million will be allocated to pay out-of-pocket costs, up to a certain amount. Class members who claim out-of-pocket costs may receive compensation of $36 to $50. 

If approved by the judge, who is scheduled to hear the motion on Aug. 17, the settlement would be far larger than other recent settlements made for large-scale data breaches: Target agreed to pay $18.5 million last month for a 2013 breach of 41 million customer records, Ashley Madison agreed to pay $17.5 million in December for the doxing attack that affected 37 million customers, and Home Depot paid $43.5 million over two separate settlements (to banks and customers) for a 2014 breach affecting 50 million customers.

According to a statement on the Anthem website, "as part of the settlement, Anthem has agreed to continue the significant information security practice changes that we undertook in the wake of the cyber attack, and we have agreed to implement additional protections over the next three years." According to a preliminary motion filed by attorneys, many details of these protections will remain confidential.

The Anthem attack was reported in February 2015 and leaked customers' income data and Social Security numbers, but likely not medical information. A report by the California Department of Insurance, released in January of this year, stated that an investigation found "with a significant degree of confidence" that a foreign government was behind the attack. Earlier research specifically implicated threat actors operating from China.

Read more details here.