Blue Cross Blue Shield of Montana investigated over data breach

pHELENA The office of Montana State Auditor James Brown the states commissioner of securities and insurance has launched an investigation into Blue Cross Blue Shield of Montana BCBSMT following a major data breach According to the Auditors Office the breach puts the personal and medical information of up to 462000 Montana customers at riskppThe amount of people that may have been impacted by this data breach by this thirdparty provider its just staggering its unbelievable Brown told MTN WednesdayppBCBSMT is the largest health insurer in Montana The company said in a statement to MTN that the breach was connected to Conduent one of its vendorsppWATCH Blue Cross Blue Shield of Montana investigated over data breachppBlue Cross and Blue Shield of Montana was notified by Conduent that some of our member data was impacted by a cyber incident at Conduent the statement said Conduent provides mail room and other services to several organizations BCBSMT systems were not impacted by this incident We are committed to supporting our members and working with them through this incidentppAccording to Browns office BCBSMT reported to the state that the breach may have exposed names addresses birth dates billing and medical data phone numbers and other sensitive information in late 2024 and early 2025ppBrown told MTN that BCBSMT reported the incident to his office Oct 8 He said the company has said affected customers will be notified and offered credit monitoring but that the auditors office still has questions about whether thats happened yetppThe purpose of disclosure under Montana law is to notify Montanans who may have been harmed that theyve been harmed so that they can take steps to mitigate the harm and to find out whats happened with their information he said So thats the reason I opened up this investigationppBrown said state law requires regulated businesses to provide notification of data breaches in a timely manner but that its not clear about exactly what timely meansppA spokesperson for BCBSMT told MTN Conduent is going to be directly contacting people who may have been affected by the breachppAffected consumers are urged to carefully review Explanation of Benefits statements and report suspicious activity immediately For information and support visit the Montana Commissioner of Securities and Insurance website or contact BCBSMTs dedicated member support lineppWe all have a duty to make sure that Montanans are protected whether youre a government regulator or if you are a company Brown said We should be working together on that to make sure that Montanans arent harmed and if they are harmed to make sure that the steps that are needed to remedy that are takenppEditors note This story has been updated to include a comment and additional information from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Montana and updated quotes from State Auditor James Brownp