Farmers Insurance has confirmed a data breach impacting the personal information of over 1 million policyholders due to a third-party cyberattack. This incident has been linked by various sources to recent Salesforce-related cyberattacks and involved a sophisticated vishing scam, which enabled attackers to unlawfully access sensitive records.
The breach was detected on May 30 when a third-party vendor reported suspicious activity within Farmers’ systems. In response, the company engaged external data-security experts for a comprehensive investigation. Notifications to affected customers commenced on August 22.
The compromised data comprises names, addresses, dates of birth, driver’s license numbers, and in some cases, the last four digits of Social Security numbers. Reports indicate that approximately 1,111,386 individuals across ten states—including California, Washington D.C., Iowa, and Massachusetts—were impacted by this breach.
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In a statement to Mashable, a Farmers Insurance spokesperson emphasized the company’s commitment to customer data protection, acknowledging that unauthorized access to a vendor’s system had occurred. They reassured stakeholders that only limited information from certain customers was exposed.
The investigation, conducted with both internal and external security experts, suggested no evidence of data misuse or compromise of Farmers’ own systems. The company has begun direct outreach to affected individuals and is offering resources, including complimentary credit monitoring services.
Farmers Insurance is a subsidiary of the Zurich Insurance Group, which reported $2.2 billion in profits last year and a remarkable $7.8 billion in operating profit for 2024. The breach forms part of a larger trend involving Salesforce data theft campaigns that have affected multiple organizations across various industries.
Utilizing the MITRE ATT&CK framework, it is conceivable that tactics such as initial access through social engineering, persistence via phishing techniques, and privilege escalation were leveraged during this cyber incident. Business owners are reminded to take proactive measures in safeguarding sensitive information and implementing robust cybersecurity protocols to mitigate the risk of similar breaches.
