Sample Report On Exploring Ethics

Anthem Health was hacked recently. Anthem offers heath services and insurance plans to it customers. The hackers obtained the social security numbers, names, addresses, birthdays, email and employment information of 80 million former and current customers and anthem employees. They also accessed medical identification numbers found on the insurance cards. The hackers have enough information to carry out a medical identity. The hackers can pose as medical billers and fraudulently charge medical services and drugs to the consumers’ insurance company. Experts say that an insurance ID enables hackers to attempt to acquire medical records to help guide on what bill to pay. The hackers can make it extremely difficult for the health plan to detect fraudulent billing while they earn a lot of money. The consumers were requested to create a medical file copy so that when the hackers make changes they can easily access. Currently, the patient portal is being monitored for any suspicious activity. However, the hackers may not make any changes immediately. The fraudulent activity may show up after six months to a year. Scam thieves are already sending mails appearing to be Anthem’s insurer with the intention of tricking people to share their personal information with them. Anthem is currently contacting their former and current members through mail delivered by the United States Postal Services. It is informing them of the breach and offering specifics on ways to register for free credit monitoring and ID protection services, which will be provided for the year (Bernard).
The security breach has ethical implications. The hackers obtained personal and confidential information of up 80 million consumers. The information is no longer private. The thieves who conducted the cyber-attack are selling the information to the highest bidder making the information accessible to anyone who has malicious motives. They are also changing some details in the information, making it inaccurate.
The three fundamental tenets of ethics apply in the security breach. Anthem and any other company should have a secure web portal, and the IT sector should carry out security checks regularly because they are responsible for the information the consumers give them. IT sector is accountable for the security breach because it is responsible for information security and updating the system. Also, the company at large is accountable because it should have systems in place that can detect breaches or quickly respond to them. The customers should take steps to secure themselves and their medical information after a cyber-security breach. They must ensure that the information is not changed. Consumers have the legal right to recover the damages done to them by the hackers. In this case, the company is reliable because the hackers have not been identified. An immediate and complete evaluation of the company’s security system must be a priority to ensure consumer protection of consumers for those covered by Anthem.

Work Cited

Bernard, Tara S.” What Anthem Customers Should Do next After Data Breach.” The New York Times 6 Feb 2015. Web. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/07/your-money/what-anthem-customers-should-do-next-after-data-breach.html?ref=topics&_r=0