Premera accused of destroying evidence following data breach

The plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit against Premera Blue Cross over a 2015 data breach now allege that the health insurance company destroyed key evidence, according to new documents filed in August. The Oregonian reports that Premera is accused of willfully destroying a computer as well as data logs that held evidence after lawsuits were filed against it. The plaintiffs are asking for a sanction called an “adverse inference instruction.” Under this sanction, the jury at trial would be instructed to infer that “the material destroyed by the company hacked would have harmed Premera,” according to The Oregonian.  

According to the website established for the lawsuit, the breach was due to a sophisticated cyberattack and compromised the personal health information of approximately 11 million Premera current and former subscribers and employees, including:

• Addresses
• Bank account information
• Clinical information
• Dates of birth
• Email addresses
• Full names
• Social Security numbers
• Telephone numbers

Premera had been warned by federal auditors from the Office of Personnel Management months prior to the attack about vulnerabilities and was provided a set of ten specific recommendations for improving cybersecurity that it failed to address. Dozens of lawsuits against the company that were related to the breach were consolidated into one class action lawsuit that was set in motion in 2015.

The motion filed by the plaintiffs is still pending.