Two federal lawsuits have been filed against Erie Insurance after a cyberattack on June 7. Customers have been unable to access their portal, file claims, or retrieve important documents.
According to a report from Erie News Now, the lawsuits are from Neil Plascencia, an Erie Insurance customer in Illinois, and Amy Haas, a customer in Wisconsin. Both lawsuits allege that Erie Insurance didn’t properly safeguard private and personal information.
Erie Insurance’s Information Security team identified unusual network activity on June 7. According to Daily Security Review, Erie Indemnity Company, the management arm of Erie Insurance Group, disclosed the incident to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in a Form 8-K filing. Customers reported claims processing and workflow disruption because the customer portal has been inaccessible for many since the attack. Erie Insurance confirmed the outages and continues to work on restoring access to all customers.
In a statement on June 11, the company said it took immediate action to safeguard systems and data. As part of the investigation, Erie Insurance is working with law enforcement and cybersecurity experts to conduct a comprehensive forensic analysis of the attack.
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On June 17, Erie Insurance released an update on the June 7 cyberattack, stating that it has control of its systems and continues to work on restoring access for customers, agents and employees.
At this time, Erie Insurance said it has seen no evidence of ransomware and no indication of ongoing threat actor activity. The company encourages customers to follow best practices around personal security and notify their financial institutions of any unusual activity.
Customers should continue checking Erie Insurance's website and social media pages for updates as more information becomes available. Customers will not receive phone calls or emails from Erie Insurance to request payments during this outage. Do not click on any links from unknown sources or share your personal information via phone or email.
Policyholders who need to initiate a claim during the outage should contact their local agent, Erie’s First Notice of Loss team at (800) 367-3743, or Customer Care at (800) 458-0811.
