FBI Close to Finding Anthem Health Hackers
The FBI said it’s close to finding the hackers responsible for the attack on health-insurance company Anthem Inc. that exposed personal data on about 80 million customers.
Federal Bureau of Investigation officials are still deciding whether to publicly reveal information about the attackers in one of the biggest thefts of medical-related customer data in US history, Robert Anderson, the bureau’s executive assistant director for cybersecurity, said Tuesday.
Investigators have found some evidence in the breach of Social Security numbers and other personal information that potentially points to Chinese state-sponsored hackers.
Anderson said he didn’t know yet whether the Chinese government carried out the attack. The FBI is tracking 60 hacking groups backed by foreign governments, the majority of which come from China, Demarest told reporters. He also said that the Islamic State terrorist group in Syria and Iraq lacks the capability to carry out hacking attacks, although the FBI is concerned the group will acquire more sophisticated skills and tools.
In another case, the FBI and other US agencies were able to determine within weeks that the North Korean government attacked Sony Pictures Entertainment. Anderson said there will be more cases like Sony in which the attackers are publicly named.
Demarest also said the FBI would lose the ability to search phone records for cybersecurity investigations if Congress doesn’t renew Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act, which expires June 1.
