This is just a complete, unmitigated nightmare disaster. Here's the text of the email I received from Anthem tonight:

To Our Members:

Safeguarding your personal, financial and medical information is one of our top priorities, and because of that, we have state-of-the-art information security systems to protect your data. However, despite our efforts, Anthem Blue Cross was the target of a very sophisticated external cyber attack. These attackers gained unauthorized access to Anthem’s IT system and have obtained personal information from our current and former members such as their names, birthdays, medical IDs/social security numbers, street addresses, email addresses and employment information, including income data. Based on what we know now, there is no evidence that credit card or medical information (such as claims, test results or diagnostic codes) were targeted or compromised.

Once the attack was discovered, Anthem immediately made every effort to close the security vulnerability, contacted the FBI and began fully cooperating with their investigation. Anthem has also retained Mandiant, one of the world’s leading cybersecurity firms, to evaluate our systems and identify solutions based on the evolving landscape.

Anthem’s own associates’ personal information – including my own – was accessed during this security breach. We join you in your concern and frustration, and I assure you that we are working around the clock to do everything we can to further secure your data.

Anthem will individually notify current and former members whose information has been accessed. We will provide credit monitoring and identity protection services free of charge so that those who have been affected can have peace of mind. We have created a dedicated website - AnthemFacts.com - where members can access information such as frequent questions and answers. As we learn more, we will continually update this website and share that information with you. We have also established a dedicated toll-free number that both current and former members can call if they have questions related to this incident. That number is: 1-877-263-7995.

I want to personally apologize to each of you for what has happened, as I know you expect us to protect your information. We will continue to do everything in our power to make our systems and security processes better and more secure, and hope that we can earn back your trust and confidence in Anthem.

Sincerely,

Joseph Swedish
President and CEO
Anthem, Inc.

Awesome. 80 million Social Security numbers out in the wild along with dates of birth. The entire United States population is 316.1 million, so that's about 1 in 4 Americans affected.

I'm not even sure what they can do to recover from this. Monitoring identity theft for a year only touches the tip of the iceberg.

Perhaps Congress could redirect some hearing resources into the cause of this hack and figure out how to fix it?

Or not.