The American insurance giant admits to a second data breach

Prudential Insurance announced that hackers stole the information of more than 36,000 people in a breach in February.

In a regulatory filing in Maine, Prudential's law firm, Debevoise & Plimpton, said the insurer discovered unauthorized access to its network on February 5, according to Report from the log.

“Through our investigation, we learned that an unauthorized third party gained access to our network on February 4, 2024, and removed a small percentage of personal information from our system,” the filing said.

According to Prudential, the names, addresses, driver's licenses or ID numbers of 36,545 people were accessed. The company notified law enforcement of the breach and hired an outside cybersecurity firm to assist in the response.

Victims of the breach will receive two years of identity protection services, The Record reported.

On February 13, Prudential filed documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission stating that the cybercrime group had access to “administrative and user data from certain IT systems” and “a small percentage” of user accounts associated with employees and contractors.

On February 16, the AlphV ransomware gang claimed responsibility for the attack. The gang was also responsible for last February's attack on mortgage bank LoanDepot, The Record reported.

Law enforcement agencies in the US, UK and EU coordinated the takedown of the AlphV website in December, but the ransomware group quickly managed to create a new platform, according to The Record. The group is also allegedly tangentially involved in the recent attack on Change Healthcare. This attack was carried out by a different ransomware group, and resulted in a $22 million ransom payment – ​​which AlphV then allegedly stole from another cybercrime group, The Record reported.

Last week, the State Department announced a reward of up to $10 million for information about the identity or location of AlphV members.

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