The U.S.’ second-largest health insurance company was hit by one of the largest cyber attacks to date, one that potentially exposed the personal data of tens of millions of customers and employees.

Anthem Health Insurance covers 80 million people across the United States, with its Blue Cross Blue Shield plan alone covering Americans in California, New York and 12 other states.

A systems administrator at Anthem first discovered suspicious activity on January 27 after he noticed a database inquiry he did not initiate. The company then promptly contacted the FBI and has hired the services of Mandiant, a leading cybersecurity firm.

Investigators do not know how many records were stolen, although they estimate the amount to be tens of millions. Anthem’s hacked database includes information such as names, Social Security numbers, birthdates and home addresses. Investigators were able to track the information to an online data storage service and froze the data there. It remains unclear whether the hackers moved the data to another location, although there are no signs that the data has been sold on the black market.

Health companies such as Anthem are ideal targets for cyber attacks. They hold a wealth of data including customers’ personal and medical information. The current breach is the latest in a series of high-profile hacks at major companies including Experian, eBay, Home Depot and Target.

----------------------------------------­---------------------

Welcome to TomoNews, where we animate the most entertaining news on the internets. Come here for an animated look at viral headlines, US news, celebrity gossip, salacious scandals, dumb criminals and much more! Subscribe now for daily news animations that will knock your socks off.

For news that's fun and never boring, visit our channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/TomoNewsUS

Subscribe to stay updated on all the top stories:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt-WqkTyKK1_70U4bb4k4lQ?sub_confirmation=1

Visit our official website for all the latest, uncensored videos: http://us.tomonews.net
Check out our Android app: http://bit.ly/1rddhCj
Check out our iOS app: http://bit.ly/1gO3z1f

Stay connected with us here:
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/TomoNewsUS
Twitter @tomonewsus http://www.twitter.com/TomoNewsUS
Google+ http://plus.google.com/+TomoNewsUS/
Instagram @tomonewsus http://instagram.com/tomonewsus