Fergie's Tech Blog

Pharmacy Extortionists Take on CIA, DoD, FBI, NSA

Brian Krebs writes on Security Fix:

Extortionists targeting clients of Express Scripts -- one of the nation's largest pharmacy benefits management firms -- may have inadvertently picked a fight for which they were ill-prepared. Security Fix has learned that among the company's biggest customers is the federal government, and specifically almost every federal law enforcement, military and intelligence agency in the country.

Last month, St. Louis-based Express Scripts said extortionists are threatening to disclose personal and medical information about millions of Americans if the company fails to meet payment demands.

Express Scripts is the third-largest U.S. pharmacy benefit management firm, which processes and pays prescription drug claims. Working with more than 1,600 companies, it handles roughly 500 million prescriptions a year for about 50 million Americans.

The company has refused to pay the demand, and since then the extortionists have moved on to targeting clients of its member companies directly.

posted by Fergie @ 11/24/2008 03:20:00 PM