WASHINGTON—Today, U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) released the following statement after Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-Wash.) of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee announced a bipartisan initiative focused on examining the security of health information technology and the health industry’s preparedness for cyber-attacks. Their announcement follows a request by Murphy that the Senate HELP Committee hold a hearing on yesterday’s Anthem Inc. security breach to identify best practices to prevent cyber-attacks from occurring again in the future.


Anthem, the nation’s second largest health insurance company and largest insurer in Connecticut, reported yesterday that hackers gained access to the information – including names, birthdays, medical IDs, Social Security numbers, street addresses, email addresses, employment information, and income data – of as many as 80 million people.


“I’m very pleased that my colleagues so swiftly announced their commitment to prioritize the safety and privacy of our constituents’ personal information. Yesterday’s cyber-attack at Anthem Inc. served as an important reminder that we must do everything we can to protect the American people from the threat of security breaches, and from breaches in the health care industry, in particular. People in Connecticut and across the country deserve to know that their health care information is safe, and this new initiative – which I look forward to working with my colleagues on - will be a very effective platform from which to do so.”