Anthem Data-Breach Settlement Sets Tone for Privacy Enforcement

Anthem $16 million data-breach settlement may signal that the federal government is about to pick up the pace on privacy and security enforcement.

The settlement—the largest negotiated by the Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights—comes after a 2015 data breach exposed the personal records, including Social Security numbers and birth dates, of roughly 79 million people.

Anthem agreed as part of the deal to enter into a two-year corrective action plan with the OCR, signaling the importance the office places on enterprisewide risk assessment, Thora Johnson, a health-care attorney with Venable LLP in Baltimore, told Bloomberg Law. ...