Hard Drive Thefts Cost Tennessee Insurer $7 Million

BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee says the theft of computer hard drives containing personal information on hundreds of thousands of members has already cost the insurer more than $7 million.

The insurer has already contacted 220,000 members in Tennessee and elsewhere who were affected, but company officials have said as many as 500,000 members could eventually be identified as facing a risk of identity theft.

More than 700 workers have been working to determine what was on the 57 hard drives and assess the back up copies of the missing records.

BlueCross Vice President Ron Harr told the newspaper that they have sufficient resources to absorb the losses.