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Threat actors are attempting to blackmail major US insurance provider Globe Life into handing over money to prevent data stolen in a cyber attack earlier this year from being published.
On 13 June, Globe Life said that during an audit of potential permissions and identity management vulnerabilities in its network, it discovered that threat actors had breached its systems.
While the company revealed to its customers that consumer and policyholder data may have been compromised as a result of the incident, its systems faced very little impact.
Now, Globe Life has revealed that the threat actors have launched communications with the intent to extort money from the insurer as payment for not publishing the data it stole.
“Globe Life Inc recently received communications from an unknown threat actor seeking to extort money from the company in exchange for not disclosing certain information held and used by the company and its independent agents,” said an SEC filing published on Thursday (17 October).
Globe Life emphasised 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 posted samples of the allegedly stolen data, which appear 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 information relayed to the company by the threat actor may relate to certain customers and customer leads that can be traced to the company’s subsidiary, American Income Life Insurance Company,” it said.
Globe Life added that at least 5,000 American Income Life Insurance customers had been affected by the incident, with potentially stolen data including full names, phone numbers, email addresses, policy information, postal addresses, health-related information, and Social Security numbers.
At this stage, Globe Life does not believe that the incident will have a material impact on its operations or its financial standing.
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