California’s Jones to Review Nationwide Following Security Breach

California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones announced said his office will conduct a review of Nationwide/Allied Group of insurance companies’ cyber security measures to ensure the company is doing all it can to protect consumers from theft or loss of their personal information.

Nationwide notified the California Department of Insurance earlier this month that a database was compromised, which resulted in the theft of confidential information for 1 million policyholders and non-policyholders. The information included names, social security numbers and other information. No credit card information was taken, and CDI estimated roughly 5,000 Californians were impacted.

“In a global economy, driven by electronic commerce, it is essential that all necessary steps are taken to ensure consumers are protected from an unintentional release or criminal theft of their personal data,” Jones saud. “While Nationwide has briefed my department and agreed to update us with the findings of its internal investigation, I’ve instructed staff to conduct a follow-up review of the breach to ensure the company has taken the necessary steps to guard against a future system failure.”

CDI said it is satisfied the company is taking appropriate first steps to notify consumers whose information was accessed and providing assistance, including offering credit monitoring and identity theft protection for those impacted with $1 million in free identity theft insurance coverage with no deductible.