Last Updated February 9, 2010

As of February 5, 2010, a total 521,761 current and former members[i] have been identified and 220,133 notifications have been sent to members indicating that their personal information was included on the stolen hard drives.  The 220,133 members notified are in the Tier 3 category, confirmed as having their name, address, BlueCross member ID number, diagnosis, Social Security number and/or date of birth included in the stolen hard drives.  Notifications have been sent to all identified Tier 3 members.  Additionally, 301,628 current and former members have been identified in the Tier 2 category. Members in the Tier 2 category of personal information (name, address, BlueCross member ID number, date of birth and/or diagnosis) will begin to receive their notifications with details of the hard drive theft and remediation services offered to them in mid-February.

The number of members reported in the Tier 2 category is larger due to the decision BlueCross made to offer remediation services to all family members associated with the specific subscriber[ii] ID number identified during the data audit process. This decision was made to ensure all potentially at-risk members are protected. To illustrate this point, 131,909 subscriber ID numbers were identified during the review of the customer service calls and there were 169,719 family members associated with the member ID numbers. Each of these 131,909 subscribers will receive a Tier 2 letter that extends offer of remediation to all family members.

As of February 5, 2010, there has been no documented incident of identity theft or credit fraud of BlueCross members as a result of this incident. 

Below is a representation of total members identified and notifications sent as of February 5, 2010, including the free remediation services to mitigate the potential for misuse of information. 

* For BlueCross members identified as minors

Since BlueCross initiated its Eastgate Customer Response call centers in mid-November, it has received over 10,500 inquires from brokers, groups and members regarding the hard drive theft, notification efforts and remediation activities.

It has been brought to the attention of BlueCross, that some members that are in the Tier 3 category do not have sufficient credit history to qualify for the Equifax 3-in-1 Credit Monitoring services.  In these cases, the member can contact the BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee Privacy Office and request the LifeLock services in lieu of the Equifax credit monitoring services.

Members who have questions or want more information should call the BlueCross Eastgate Response Customer Call Center at 1-888-422-2786 or can email Privacy_Questions_GM@bcbst.com.  Recommendations to protect against identity theft are available at www.ftc.gov.

At-risk members are strongly encouraged by BlueCross to take full advantage of the pre-paid protection services offered in their notification letter.

Click here for FAQs

See the right hand column for previous Eastgate Hard Drive Theft updates

Eastgate Remediation Activities

Eastgate Hard Drive Theft Response Summary