TRICARE West breach exposes health data of US military families

Hackers breached TRICARE West, the health programme covering millions of US military service members, retirees, and their families across the western United States, exposing health data belonging to thousands of beneficiaries.

Health data breaches carry a specific kind of risk beyond identity theft: the exposed information can include diagnoses, treatment history, and other details people reasonably expect to stay private, and it's far harder to reset than a password.

What to do: if you or a family member are TRICARE West beneficiaries, watch for an official notification letter and check whether free credit monitoring is being offered, a standard response after breaches involving this volume of personal data.