Apparently, hackers stole even more of Express Scripts’ member information than was initially revealed last fall. An additional 1,771 New Hampshire residents are being sent data breach notification letters this week, according to a September 14 letter from Express Scripts.
Express Scripts, one of the world’s largest pharmacy benefits management companies, revealed in November 2008 that hackers demanded ransom in exchange for stolen customer information. Unless the ransom was paid, the hackers threatened to reveal the members’ information.
To strengthen their threat, the hackers sent personal information–including names, birth dates, Social Security numbers and some prescription details–of 75 of the firm’s 50 million customers.
Express Scripts publicly refused to pay the ransom, even after some of their customers received similar letters, extortion attempts and sample employee information. Toyota, government agencies and labor unions were among those contacted by the hackers.
In response to the hackers ramped up threats, Express Scripts offered a $1 million reward to anyone providing information leading the arrest and conviction of the hackers.
The identification of additional data breach victims in New Hampshire came from new information from the FBI, according to the recent letter sent from Express Scripts’ Vice President and Deputy General Counsel Janice Forsyth to New Hampshire Attorney General Michael Delaney.
It is unclear whether FBI forensics discovered more victims or the hackers contacted them with additional information.
Express Scripts has never revealed how many members were affected by the data breach, or how much ransom the extortionists demanded.
“There are thousands of companies that have already paid off extortionists in return for not having their customer’s data exposed,” Alan Paller said when Express Scripts made their initial announcement. Paller is research director of SANS Institute, a computer security training group.
“This is especially true in the financial industry, as some banks are getting more than one new extortion demand a day,” Paller said.
Tags: Add new tag, Data breach, Express Scripts
