Cyberattack affects 1.1 million CareFirst customers

A "sophisticated cyberattack" has compromised personal information of about 1.1 million customers of CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, the region's largest health insurer, the company said Wednesday. Attackers gained access to names, birth dates, email addresses and insurance identification numbers, CareFirst officials said. The database did not include Social Security or credit card numbers, passwords or medical information. It is the third major cyberattack on a U.S. health insurer this year, coming as hackers increasingly target health care and insurance organizations for medical-related data, which can be sold for large sums on secret online marketplaces.