Horizon Responds To Angry Public

Here’s what Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey put on their Website on 1/30/2008 to counter the public outcry over this incident…

This theft does not impact all Horizon BCBSNJ members. If you are a Horizon BCBSNJ member and you have not received a letter indicating that your information was on the stolen laptop, you are not affected.

That’s 9% of the people they are supposed to protect (300,000 out of 3.3 million in New Jersey).

On January 5, 2008, a Horizon BCBSNJ employee’s laptop was stolen in the City of Newark.

So why does it take over three weeks to inform customers of such an urgent matter? Customers started receiving letters on 1/29.

The stolen laptop contained the personal information of approximately 300,000 Horizon BCBSNJ members and included names, address, and Social Security numbers.

Conveniently doesn’t mention the data and theft was at an employee’s home. Why is such information in some employee’s home?

There was no medical data on the stolen laptop.

Horizon BCBSNJ has sent letters to all affected members alerting them to the theft.

Yup, every member of my family got the form letter.

Horizon BCBSNJ is offering affected members free credit monitoring for one year.

Here’s the thing… Don’t you think you owe us more than that? Horizon betrayed the trust of it’s customers. Who says the company you recommend is right for me? What happens a year from now if I’m not paying attention and I suddenly start getting subscription charges from this company. Lifetime monitoring is more appropriate.

Also, if I agree to this, does that mean I waive my right to hold Horizon legally responsible for any future credit problems/identity theft that might result from this event?

Horizon BCBSNJ believes that it is highly unlikely that any personal data stored on the stolen computer has been accessed. The computer was password protected.

But you don’t really know for sure. That’s the problem.

Also, on January 23, 2008, a security feature was initiated that destroys all of the data on stolen computer.

That means the data was still accessible for 18 days. Anything could’ve happened during that time.

Horizon BCBSNJ takes seriously its obligation to protect personal information. We apologize for any inconvenience this theft may have caused those affected.

I don’t believe you. If you took it seriously, this would never have happened. Policy and procedures and Privacy Officers mean nothing if you don’t do your job properly. Don’t claim you can protect our data when it is clear that you failed.