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If you use Allianz Life, your data was likely lost to hackers. The life insurance provider has suffered a data breach involving the “majority” of its 1.4 million customers.
Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America initially disclosed the breach on Friday; it has since released a statement detailing the hack’s severity, which only impacts Allianz Life in the US. The breach occurred on Wednesday, July 16, when the hackers were able to access a “third-party, cloud-based” customer relationship management software used by Allianz Life.
“The threat actor was able to obtain personally identifiable data related to the majority of Allianz Life’s customers, financial professionals, and select Allianz Life employees, using a social engineering technique,” according to the company, which operates as a subsidiary of Germany-based Allianz.
The company didn’t elaborate on the social engineering technique, but it often involves a hacker impersonating a company employee or customer support to manipulate the victim into handing over their passwords or installing malicious software, giving them entry into a corporate network. Allianz says it took “immediate action to contain and mitigate the issue” while notifying the FBI.
“Based on our investigation to date, there is no evidence that the Allianz Life network or other company systems were accessed, including our policy administration system,” it said. Still, the breach raises concerns that the hackers stole a plethora of sensitive data since insurance providers collect things like dates of birth and Social Security numbers.
Allianz didn’t say what kind of data was lost or who might be responsible. But last month, security researchers warned that a notorious cybercriminal group known as Scattered Spider, which is known to use social engineering tactics, is targeting insurance providers.
In the meantime, Allianz said: “Our investigation is ongoing and we began the process of reaching out to individuals impacted with dedicated resources to assist them.”