A majority of customers' personal information stolen in data breach at Allianz Life
The insurance giant confirmed to USA TODAY on July 28 that hackers used a social engineering technique on July 16 to gain access to a "third-party, cloud-based" system used by the company.
"We took immediate action to contain and mitigate the issue and notified the FBI," Brett Weinberg, a spokesman for Allianz Life, said in a statement.
Allianz revealed the data breach on July 26 in a legally required filing with Maine's attorney general, as first reported by TechCrunch, but did not disclose the number of customers affected. The insurance company has been contacting individuals whose data was compromised and is expected to notify all affected customers by Aug. 1.
According to the filing, the company is offering "24 months of identity theft restoration and credit monitoring through Kroll" to those affected.
Allianz officials told Reuters that there is no evidence to suggest that the company's network or other systems were accessed, including its policy administration system.
How many people are employed by Allianz Life?
According to its website, Allianz Life Insurance of North America employs approximately 2,000 people in the United States, with headquarters located in Minnesota.
Where is Allianz located?
Allianz Life is one of five affiliate companies of Allianz in North America, as stated on the company's website. Allianz SE, a Munich-based global financial services group, acquired North American Life and Casualty in 1979 and changed its name to Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America.
Allianz SE serves over 125 million customers worldwide.
How many people are affected by the data breach?
The company has not provided the exact number of customers impacted by the breach. In a statement, Allianz Life said the hackers were able to obtain "personally identifiable data" of the majority of the company's customers in the United States.
There are about 1.4 million Allianz Life customers in the country.
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