USA - Chinese Citizen Indicted in Anthem Hack of 80 Million People

A Chinese citizen was indicted for aiding a massive 2015 computer hack at health insurer Anthem Inc., one of the biggest thefts of consumer medical data in U.S. history.

The four-count indictment unsealed Thursday in Indianapolis, where Anthem is based, accuses Fujie Wang, 32, of helping a hacking group in China infiltrate the computer systems of Anthem and three other U.S. businesses that aren’t identified in the case, ultimately gaining access to personal information on nearly 80 million people at Anthem alone.

Wang, who is at large, and another defendant, identified only as John Doe, drained Anthem’s computer network of customers’ names, health identification numbers, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, income data and other personal information, according to the indictment.

The pair allegedly used “extremely sophisticated” techniques to carry out the hack, including sending “spearfishing” emails with embedded hyperlinks to employees, the U.S. said. If the victims clicked on the links, a file was downloaded that would deploy malware to install a “back door” for remote access. After information was collected, the defendants placed it in encrypted files and sent it through multiple computers to destinations in China, according to the indictment.


Source: Bloomberg