Midday Roundup: Social Security numbers stolen from insurance giant

Unencrypted. Health insurance giant Anthem announced Wednesday it had suffered a cybersecurity breach that compromised potentially tens of millions of customers’ personal information. The sophisticated hack attack stole names, addresses, birth dates, income data, and Social Security numbers, but not medical information, Anthem said. Wired magazine predicted Anthem could face lawsuits from affected customers, particularly since the company did not encrypt the Social Security numbers.

False report. NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams says poor memory made him claim he came under enemy fire while reporting in Iraq in 2003 when, in fact, he didn’t. But some military veterans aren’t buying it; they say he lied and only admitted it when soldiers involved in the incident called him on it. The truth is that Williams was in a Chinook helicopter that arrived at the scene an hour after another helicopter was shot down. Williams has said he feels terrible about the mistake and apologized both on the air and in writing to viewers and the soldiers involved.

Writer’s rights. Some onlookers are questioning whether news this week that author Harper Lee had decided to release another novel was too good to be true. A few journalists and people who know Lee, writer of To Kill a Mockingbird, said it’s unlike the reclusive 88-year-old to draw this kind of attention to herself. They pointed out the discovery of the lost manuscript for the forthcoming novel, Go Set a Watchman, came conveniently after the death of Lee’s sister Alice, who worked to protect the author’s privacy. Adding to the suspicion was a 2011 statement Alice Lee made saying, “Harper can’t see and can’t hear and will sign anything put before her by anyone in whom she has confidence.” But Harper Lee rebutted skeptics in a statement, saying, “I’m alive and kicking and happy as hell with the reactions to Watchman.”

European shuffle. Leaders from France and Germany are making a surprise visit to Kiev and Moscow with a proposal for peace in Ukraine. Fighting still rages in Eastern Ukraine between the government and Russian-backed separatists. Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met Thursday with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. In a joint news conference with Poroshenko, Kerry called on Moscow to stop supporting the separatists and seek a diplomatic resolution to the fate of Eastern Ukraine. Now German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande are getting involved, possibly in a scramble to ease the tension in Europe after Kerry’s strong display of friendship with Ukraine, which many read as a challenge to Russia.

Milking it. Faced with sagging soft drink sales, Coca-Cola is getting into the milk business. Coke’s new product, a premium milk called Fairlife, has more protein and less sugar than regular milk. Sue and Mike McCloskey of Fair Oaks Farm in northwest Indiana developed the milk, which is made using a special filtration process. It also costs about twice as much as traditional whole milk. The target market for Fairlife comprises health-conscious women ages 25-39, especially moms who are buying milk for their families.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.