Calif. insurance commissioner to investigate Health Net data breach

California's insurance commissioner is asking insurer Health Net to share findings from its investigation of a recent security breach that compromised the data of 1.9 million past and present patients, including an estimated 845,000 California residents.

Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones also said he would lead a separate inquiry into the incident, which occurred in early February when several server drives went missing from a data center in Rancho Cordova, Calif. The breach was discovered when IBM Corp., which manages IT infrastructure for Health Net, told the insurer that the drives were lost.

"With identify-theft crimes on the rise, it is more important than ever to act immediately and comprehensively in addressing a privacy breach,” Jones said in a news release. "Although Health Net has agreed to provide us with the findings of its internal investigation, I intend to conduct a follow-up investigation of the breach."

Woodland Hills, Calif.-based Health Net has promised to provide affected customers with two years of credit monitoring and identity protection services.