Globe Life hackers demand money not to publish data
Malicious actors are trying to blackmail leading US insurer Globe Life into handing over money to prevent the publication of data stolen in a cyberattack earlier this year.
On June 13, Globe Life said that during an audit of potential permissions and identity management vulnerabilities in its network, it discovered that malicious actors had breached its systems.
Although the company disclosed to its customers that consumer and policyholder data may have been compromised following the incident, its systems suffered very little impact.
Today, Globe Life revealed that the threat actors initiated communications with the aim of extorting money from the insurer as payment for not publishing the stolen data.
“Globe Life Inc recently received communications from an unknown malicious actor seeking to extort money from the Company in exchange for non-disclosure of certain information held and used by the Company and its independent agents,” a filing states of the SEC published Thursday, October 17.
Globe Life stressed that the incident was not a ransomware attack, as no ransomware was used in the incident and no data encryption took place.
The company also revealed that the threat actors had published samples of the allegedly stolen data, which appears to belong to one of its subsidiaries, American Income Life Insurance.
“Based on the Company’s investigation to date, which remains ongoing, the Company believes that the information provided to the Company by the threat actor may relate to certain customers and customer leads that may be traced back to the company’s subsidiary, American Income Life Insurance Company,” he said.
Globe Life added that at least 5,000 American Income Life Insurance customers were affected by the incident, with potentially stolen data including full names, phone numbers, email addresses, information about policy, mailing addresses, health information and social security numbers.
At this stage, Globe Life does not believe the incident will have a material impact on its operations or financial condition.
