Another Insurance Broker Breached; 1.5 Million Consumers Compromised

A Californian insurance brokerage offering insurance and budgetary solutions for schools, community agencies, and healthcare organizations—Keenan & Associates, has announced a significant data breach. The organization provides services to many industries and retains some data on behalf of its clients during its work. In other words the compromised data may include the data of those who were not the direct client of Keenan; however, they were the customer of an organization that used Keenan’s services. According to the published details of the announcement, over 1.5 million people have had their data compromised in Keenan’s breach.

How Did the Attack Occur? 

The sample consumer notice published by the Maine Attorney General’s Office suggests the event occurred by an unauthorized party. They accessed Keenan’s internal systems multiple times throughout a week-long cyberattack. Upon discovery, Keenan notified law enforcement and immediately worked to secure their systems. How the assailants made the attack possible remains unclear; however, Keenan’s response to the event includes updated securities, making a reoccurring cyberattack unlikely. 

What Information Was Viewed or Stolen? 

The Keenan website notice provides information on the stolen data; the compromised information may include full names, dates of birth, Social Security Numbers, passport numbers, driver’s license numbers, health insurance data (possibly including provider names or group numbers), and general health information (possibly including diagnosis/treatment details). The stolen data differs between individuals, but the risk of data misuse is high for everyone involved; the thieves only need a few pieces of personal information to commit identity, financial, credit, or medical fraud. 

How Did Keenan & Associates Admit to the Breach? 

The information published by the Maine Attorney General’s Office suggests the threat actor accessed Keenan’s systems around August 21st, 2023. Then, over the next week, the assailant entered the environment multiple times. During their free access, the agent removed some data from Keenan’s systems and disrupted their network. Officials noticed the disruptions and discovered the cyberattack after investigating. The actor had access to the systems from August 21st to August 27th before officials expelled him from the environment. Further, starting around January 26th, officials began sending impact notices to victims.

What Will Become of the Stolen Information? 

It’s unclear what will happen to the stolen data from this event. As mentioned above, cybercriminals only need a few details to derail the lives of their victims. However, other dangers may appear as a consequence of this event. For example, if any of the stolen data includes account credentials shared by the user for other organizations, those networks are at risk for breaching through credential stuffing. Suddenly, this 1,509,616-record breach could explode to millions. The only way to avoid this consequence is for consumers to take charge of their accounts and data. 

What Should Affected Parties Do in the Aftermath of the Breach? 

Victims of this event should start their response by securing their accounts; this includes new, unique passwords (hopefully created by a password manager) and username changes where applicable. Additionally, those with compromised medical data must request an itemized Explanation of Benefits from their providers; if there is anything suspicious in the document, consumers can act to protect themselves (and their entitlements).

Victims who can’t quickly secure, alter, or watch their accounts can hire professionals to do it for them. Account monitoring services are the most straightforward way to watch for, respond to, and mitigate the consequences of account data misuse. Victims don’t need to wait for confirmation of their data in the breach to start safeguarding their data immediately.