Following the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, other major health care companies also removed photos of executives from their websites, closed buildings, and even held in-person public events instead. The move to switch to virtual investor days is gaining momentum.
Amid growing security concerns, companies have removed previously published information from their websites.
UnitedHealthcare's parent company, UnitedHealth Group, has removed its “Our Leaders” webpage, which featured photos and biographies of executives.
Elevance, formerly known as Anthem, is now redirecting its “Senior Leadership” page to the company's home page.
Humana's Board of Directors website currently displays a contact form that does not include information about its members.
CVS Health, which owns insurance company Aetna, does not post any photos of its executives.
Corporate security consultants say removing personal information such as photos is a good move for companies concerned about risk, but in this case, much of the information is already public.
“This is all you can find,” said Drew Necker, principal consultant at security risk management firm Cosecure. “More importantly, we want to ensure that executives' personal information is wiped from the web.”
Chris Pearson, CEO of BlackCloak, which provides private digital security to executives and their families, said companies sometimes reveal too much information in an attempt to humanize executives. pointed out.
“What is meant to instill trust and confidence and humanize executives can be used for malicious purposes,” Pearson said. “So reducing and mitigating the amount of things that are out there is definitely something that should be considered.”
Pearson added that even though the company's information had been public for a long time, it did not act too late when it was removed.
“There's no risk whatsoever of removing it now to thwart the continued possibility of the next adversary out there,” Pearson said.
Thompson was shot and killed by an unknown gunman on Wednesday morning outside a midtown Manhattan hotel where UnitedHealth Group was holding its annual investor conference. The event was canceled shortly after company executives learned of the killing.
Police said Thompson was targeted, but there is no speculation as to a motive. The gunman left behind shell casings with the words “Reject,” “Delay,” and “Discard” written on them. These words are often used by people who criticize the health insurance industry's strategy of denying customer claims.
Dave Komendat, president of DSKomendat Risk Management Services and former chief security officer at Boeing, said healthcare is an industry where corporate leaders often face threats.
“Whenever you have a service or product that can cause a big emotional response from someone, if that service or product doesn’t go as planned, [it] It creates a risk,” Komendat said.
Other insurance companies have also taken further steps to ensure safety.
Medica, a health insurance company focused on the Midwest, has temporarily closed its headquarters in Minnetonka, Minn., the same Minneapolis suburb where UnitedHealth has a corporate presence.
public relations person He told the Minnesota Star Tribune. It said its offices would be closed until at least December 13 “out of an abundance of caution.”
And Centene, the largest Medicaid insurance company, was scheduled to hold an investor conference at the New York Stock Exchange next week. The company announced it would instead host an online event “in response to the tragic death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.”
“All of us at Centene are deeply saddened by the death of Brian Thompson and would like to express our support to all those affected. Health insurance is a big industry and a small community. CenTeam Many of our members passed through Brian during their careers,” Centene CEO Sarah M. London said in a statement.
Centene did not have photos of its executives on its website Friday.
But aside from the photo removal and changes to in-person events, other insurers, including CVS/Aetna, Humana and Kaiser Permanente, did not comment Friday about additional changes to security.
Komendat said he expects companies to respond more once police can determine a motive for the shooting, but said some executives may not want to wait.
“I think motivation is going to be important,” Komendat said. “But I also think that whatever the motivation, there will be a certain number of executives who don't want to be looked over their shoulder, who don't want to walk down the street and feel fear.” If they know they have an effective security program. , it can be alleviated to some extent. ”
