US insurer concludes China cyber attack sought industry insights, sources say

An investigation into the cyber attack on US health insurer Anthem, which compromised the personal information of 80 million customers early this year, has revealed that hackers in China targeted the firm and others in the industry in part to learn more about how medical coverage functions in the United States, The Financial Times reported, citing unnamed sources. People familiar with the Anthem investigation also said that gaining intellectual property and trade secrets were the rationale for the hack, and individual data held by Anthem – which insures many US government employees – could also be helpful to Chinese intelligence agencies.