Anthem health insurance hacked. Here's how to protect yourself.

Photo credit: Microsoft

A major attack on health insurance provider, Anthem Inc., has exposed personal information for more than 80 million customers and employees. In an email to affected customers, Anthem CEO Joseph Swedish announced that the company was a victim of a "sophisticated external cyber attack."
The data stolen in the hack includes "names, birthdays, medical IDs/social security numbers, street addresses, email addresses and employment information, including income data." However, credit card and medical information was not accessed.
The attack was discovered on January 29th by a system administrator who noticed a database was accessed under his account without his knowledge. Anthem moved quickly to disclose this attack to the public and is now working with the FBI to investigate the source of the attack.
Anthem finds itself on the ever growing list of high recent profile data breaches which includes the likes of Target, Sony Pictures and many more.
Although your personal information maybe in the hands of cyber criminals, there are steps you can take to protect yourself.

Secure your online accounts with a password manager

The first step after any major security breach is to control the spread of your personal information. If you're using the same password across multiple sites, you're setting yourself up for disaster. Hackers will try your stolen username and password across other accounts to see if they can steal more information from you.
You can stop this by using a password manager, which helps you generate strong, randomized passwords. If you need help choosing one, check out our comparison of 1Password, Dashlane and LastPass.

Monitor your credit reports

Photo credit: 401kcalculator.org via Flickr

Now that your social security number is in the hands of hackers, you'll have to be diligent about checking your credit score. An exposed social security number leaves you vulnerable to identity theft whereby thieves can sign up for credit cards and loans in your name that will mar your credit score.
Under federal law, you are entitled to one free credit report per year from AnnualCreditReport.com, which is powered by credit reporting companies like Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. If you've already requested a free credit report this year, you can pay a company to send you a full report.
Anthem promises to provide free credit monitoring and identity theft protection for all affected members. The company hasn't started providing these services yet but affected members will receive info in the mail about how to sign up.

Beware of phishing

After every high profile data breach, hackers looking to capitalize on the panic will send out fake emails or create fake sites to steal people's information. Be aware of phishing emails disguised as legitimate communications from Anthem or other healthcare providers.
If an email looks suspect, don't click on any of its links and contact your health insurance provider directly over the phone. Typos, sensationalist call to actions and disguised links are dead giveaways for phishing emails.

Create secret email addresses for sensitive accounts

AVG's Head of Free Products, Tony Anscombe, recommends creating secret email addresses for sensitive accounts.
"Moving forward, avoid using the same email address or identity across multiple online accounts. For example, have a primary email address used for recovery of forgotten passwords and account information. Have a secondary email address for offline and online retail transactions. Have a third for financial accounts and sensitive information."
This is smart advice as hackers will have a tough time cracking your account if they don't even know which email address you're using. Sure, it's annoying to have to manage multiple emails but most password managers will make this easy.
2014 was marked by an increase of high profile hacks and it's not going to slow down. Use these tips to build up a wall around your personal information for the next inevitable hack.
For more tips about how to protect your personal information, check out my article about how to protect your online identity.
The word is derived from the Greek ἀντίφωνα (antiphōna) via Old English antefn, a word which originally had the same meaning as antiphon.

Anthems and the church

An anthem is a form of church music, particularly in the service of the Church of England, in which it is appointed by the rubrics to follow the third collect at both morning and evening prayer. Several anthems are included in the British coronation service. The words are selected from Holy Scripture or in some cases from the Liturgy, and the music is generally more elaborate and varied than that of psalm or hymn tunes. Though the anthem of the Church of England is analogous to the motet of the Roman Catholic and Lutheran Churches, both being written for a trained choir and not for the congregation, it is as a musical form essentially English in its origin and development.
The anthem developed as a replacement for the Catholic "votive antiphon" commonly sung as an appendix to the main office to the Blessed Virgin Mary or other saints. Although anthems were written in the Elizabethan period by Tallis (1505–1585), Byrd (1539–1623), and others, they are not mentioned in the Book of Common Prayer until 1662, when the famous rubric "In quires and places where they sing here followeth the Anthem" first appears.
In common usage among many Protestant churches, an "anthem" often refers to any short sacred choral work presented during the course of a worship service. In the context of an Anglican service, an "anthem" is a composition to an English religious text. From this widening usage has come the more modern sense of the word.

History

Early anthems tended to be simple and homophonic in texture, so that the words could be clearly heard. Late in the sixteenth century the "verse anthem", in which passages for solo voices alternated with passages for full choir, developed. This became the dominant form in the Restoration, when composers such as Henry Purcell (1659–1695) and John Blow (1649–1708) wrote elaborate examples for the Chapel Royal with orchestral accompaniment. In the nineteenth century Samuel Sebastian Wesley (1810–1876) wrote anthems influenced by contemporary oratorio which stretch to several movements and last twenty minutes or longer. Later in the century, Charles Villiers Stanford (1852–1924) used symphonic techniques to produce a more concise and unified structure.
Many anthems have been composed since this time, generally by organists rather than professional composers and often in a conservative style. Major composers have usually composed anthems in response to commissions and for special occasions. Examples include Edward Elgar's Great is the Lord (1912) and Give unto the Lord (1914) (both with orchestral accompaniment), Benjamin Britten's Rejoice in the Lamb (1943) (a modern example of a multi-movement anthem and today heard mainly as a concert piece), and, on a much smaller scale, Ralph Vaughan Williams' O taste and see (1952) (written for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II). With the relaxation of the rule, in England at least, that anthems should be only in English, the repertoire has been greatly enhanced by the addition of many works from the Latin repertoire.

Modern use

The word "anthem" is commonly used to describe a celebratory song or composition for a distinct group, as in the term "national anthem". Many pop songs are used as anthems, such as Queen's "We Are the Champions", which is commonly used as a sports anthem. The term "anthemic" is a modern word coined to describe music with a celebratory connotation. Since the target audience of pop music can vary greatly, so can the celebrated subject of the anthem. Examples of this wider range of anthem subjects include Marilyn Manson's "Irresponsible Hate Anthem" and Silverchair's "Anthem for the Year 2000".