FBI investigates extortion threat to expose patient data; $1M reward for info

Patient data breach investigation yields $1M dollar reward. Image Source: Primetime News

Express Scripts, a pharmacy benefit management company, has received extortion letters threatening to release private health information of clients, and a number of its individual clients have received letters threatening to expose their personal information.

The company has reported the threats to the FBI, and is offering $1 million reward for the person(s) who provide information resulting in the arrest and conviction of those responsible.

The letters, which were received by Express Scripts' clients in the past few days, are similar in form to the one that the company received in early October from an unknown person(s) threatening to publicly expose millions of the company's members' records if an extortion threat was not met. The original letter included the personal data of 75 Express Scripts members. The company publicly disclosed the extortion threat last week and is notifying affected members.

"We are cooperating fully with the FBI to assist them in their investigation and doing what we can to protect our members," said George Paz, CEO and chairman of Express Scripts.

Express Scripts said it will offer free identity restoration to any client who has their identity stolen because of the security breech.

However, the St. Louis-based company said the personal data has not been misused. Express Scripts said it has contracted with Kroll, a New York City-based risk-consulting firm and global data security provider, to offer expert assistance to its members if they have become victims of identity theft because of the incident.