Ohio gets nearly $2M in data breach settlement

SANDUSKY — Ohio's attorney general on Wednesday announced a multimillion-dollar settlement involving a data breach that compromised personal information for millions of Americans. Forty-four states reached a total of $39.5 million settlement with health insurance provider Anthem Inc., according to a release from Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost. Ohio will get a little less than $2 million. In 2014, cyber attackers gained access to Anthem's data that included personal information — including names, Social Security numbers and home addresses — for nearly 79 million Americans, including more than 5 million Ohioans, the release states. "Protecting the privacy of its customers should be Anthem's top priority, otherwise people are left vulnerable and exposed," Yost said. "The fear of having your identity stolen is alarming and will take time to rebuild that public trust." Also as a part of the settlement, Anthem agreed to a number of improvements to its security practices moving forward. In a prior class-action settlement, Anthem offered affected customers funding for credit monitoring services and reimbursement for out-of-pocket losses, the release states. The deadline to submit claims under that settlement has since passed.