Pacific Guardian Life Insurance says 165,000 had financial info stolen in 2023 attack

More than 165,000 people had sensitive financial information stolen by cybercriminals in an August 2023 cyberattack on a Hawaiʻi-based insurance giant.

Pacific Guardian Life Insurance filed documents with regulators in Maine and put a notice on its website about a data breach that began on August 25.

“On September 5, 2023, PGL identified suspicious activity within its e-mail environment,” the company said, explaining that an investigation into the incident concluded on March 5. 

The information stolen includes Social Security numbers, financial account information, medical information and more.

Federal law enforcement agencies were notified of the incident, the company said in the breach notification letters.

Founded in 1961, the insurance giant has thousands of customers across 46 states. 

The incident continues the steady drumbeat of breaches affecting millions of customers who either use services from U.S. companies or work for one.

A New England health insurance firm admitted that more victims than previously understood were affected by a ransomware attack last year. The company said 2.86 million people had sensitive data like Social Security numbers stolen during the attack.  

Two days ago, a prominent cancer hospital in California said more than 820,000 people had information exposed to hackers who broke into the company’s systems in October.