‍

In this week's issue: the Anthem data breach could affect 8.8 million non-customers, Target lists its data breach costs at $162 million for 2013-14, Gemalto investigates the claims that government agencies hacked its SIM card encryption keys, Google plans to launch its new mobile payment API and in the latest Rippleshot blog post, we take a look at President Obama's Executive Order on cybersecurity.

Anthem Data Breach Put 8.8 Million Non-Customers' Data At Risk

When news broke that the nation’s second largest health insurer, Anthem, had suffered a data breach, the true scope of the breach was still undetermined. Earlier this week, Anthem announced that nearly 78.8 million customers had their records exposed including SSN and much more. While this number is lower than Anthem’s original estimate of 80+ million affected customers, the data breach affected 8.8 million non-customers of the health insurer.

Anthem released in a statement that the roughly 8.8 million customers who are customers of Blue Cross and Blue Shield health plans across the United States are also affected by this data breach. Anthem is offering all affected individuals 24 months of identity theft repair and credit monitoring through AllClear ID’s services.

Target Says Data Breach Cost Retailer $162 Million in 2013-14

On Wednesday, Target released its Q4 and full-year 2014 earnings report, claiming that the 2013 data breach will cost the retailer $162 million in expenses. It’s important to note that the previous figure does not take into account other expenses including class action lawsuits and the impact of consumer reluctance to shop at Target.

For more info on the Target data breach and to see Rippleshot’s projections of Target’s total losses, click here.

Gemalto Investigates Claims That Gov't Spies Hacked SIM Card Encryption Keys

Gemalto, the largest SIM card producer in the world, has responded to claims that the company’s encryption keys that are used to protect communication between cell phones were hacked by government spy agencies. Last Friday, Gemalto released a statement saying that the company will investigate the claims made in a recent Edward Snowden leak to “fully investigate and understand the scope of such sophisticated techniques.”

Gemalto produces nearly 2 billion SIM cards every year, many of which are used in cell phones carried by AT&T, Sprint, Verizon and many more.

Google To Launch New Mobile Payment API, 'Android Pay,' In May

Google is preparing to announce its new mobile payment API, currently dubbed Android Pay, at Google’s I/O conference in May. With this new API, organizations would be able to utilize Android Pay to create their own payments app for their customers to be use in store. According to Business Insider, Android Pay will be separate from Google Wallet but it will allow Google Wallet users to link their accounts to apps that are run on Android Pay.

Learn how new payment technologies including Apple Pay, EMV and 3-D Secure will affect the payments ecosystem in our latest white paper on payment fraud.

Rippleshot Content: What YOU Need To Know About President Obama's Executive Order on Cybersecurity

In our latest blog post, we cover President Obama’s Executive Order on cybersecurity and consumer protection. This newly signed Executive Order focuses on two key points: to help promote private-public information sharing and collaboration between cybersecurity firms in the private sector.

Thanks for reading this week’s newsletter. If you missed the last Data Breach Ripples email or want to share these with friends or colleagues, click HERE!