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FILE - In this Feb. 5, 2015 file photo, the Anthem logo hangs at the health insurer's corporate headquarters in Indianapolis. Insurers aren't required to encrypt consumers' data under a 1990s federal law that remains the foundation for health care privacy in the Internet age _ a striking omission in light of the cyberattack against Anthem, the nation's second-largest health insurer. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy, File)

Photo: Michael Conroy / Associated Press
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FILE -- Joseph Swedish, chief executive of Anthem, in the company’s offices in Indianapolis, Jan. 28, 2014. Anthem failed to protect the data in its computers through encryption in the same way it protected medical information, and hackers exploited that weakness to access 80 million records including Social Security numbers, addresses, income data and more. (A J Mast/The New York Times)

Photo: A.J. MAST / New York Times
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A copy of an e-mail sent to Anthem Inc. plan members with notification of a cyber-attack is arranged for a photograph in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2015. Anthem Inc., the second biggest U.S. health insurer by market value, said hackers obtained data on tens of millions of current and former customers and employees in a sophisticated attack that has led to a Federal Bureau of Investigation probe. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

Photo: Andrew Harrer / Bloomberg
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Anthem’s website wasn’t the problem in this case; the records were stolen from an unencrypted company database.

Photo: Andrew Harrer / Bloomberg
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The Anthem Inc. website displays a notification of a cyber-attack in this arranged photograph in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2015. Anthem Inc., the second biggest U.S. health insurer by market value, said hackers obtained data on tens of millions of current and former customers and employees in a sophisticated attack that has led to a Federal Bureau of Investigation probe. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

Photo: Andrew Harrer / Bloomberg
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The main federal health privacy law encourages encryption, but doesn’t require it. Anthem chose not to encrypt its data.

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A man walks past health insurer Anthem's corporate headquarters in Indianapolis, Thursday, Feb. 5, 2015. Hackers broke into the company's database storing information for about 80 million people in an attack bound to stoke fears many Americans have about the privacy of their most sensitive information. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Photo: Michael Conroy / Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Insurers aren’t required to encrypt consumers’ data under a 1990s federal law that remains the foundation for health care privacy in the Internet age — an omission that seems striking in light of the major cyberattack against Anthem.

Encryption uses mathematical formulas to scramble data, converting sensitive details coveted by intruders into gibberish. Anthem, the second-largest U.S. health insurer, has said the data stolen from a company database that stored information on 80 million people was not encrypted.

The main federal health privacy law — the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA — encourages encryption, but doesn’t require it.

The lack of a clear encryption standard undermines public confidence, some experts say, even as the government plows ahead to spread the use of computerized medical records and promote electronic information sharing among hospitals, doctors and insurers.

“We need a whole new look at HIPAA,” said David Kibbe, CEO of DirectTrust, a nonprofit working to create a national framework for secure electronic exchange of personal health information.

“Any identifying information relevant to a patient ... should be encrypted,” said Kibbe. It should make no difference, he says, whether that information is being transmitted on the Internet or sitting in a company database, as was the case with Anthem.

The agency charged with enforcing the privacy rules is a small unit of the federal Health and Human Services Department, called the Office for Civil Rights.

The office said Friday that it has yet to receive formal notification of the hack from Anthem, but nonetheless is treating the case as a privacy law matter. Although Anthem alerted mainline law enforcement agencies, the law allows 60 days for notifying HHS.

The privacy office said the kind of personal data stolen by the Anthem hackers is covered by HIPAA, even if it does not include medical information.

“The personally identifiable information health plans maintain on enrollees and members — including names and Social Security numbers — is protected under HIPAA, even if no specific diagnostic or treatment information is disclosed,” it said.

A 2009 federal law promoting computerized medical records sought to nudge the health care industry toward encryption, requiring public disclosure of any health data breach affecting 500 or more people. It also created an exemption for companies that encrypt their data.

Encryption has been seen as a controversial issue in the industry, particularly with data that’s only being stored and not transmitted. Encryption adds costs and can make day-to-day operations more cumbersome. It can also be defeated if someone manages to decipher the code or steals the key.

In fact, Anthem spokeswoman Kristin Binns said, encryption would not have thwarted the latest attack because the hacker also had a system administrator’s ID and password. She said the company normally encrypts data that it exports.

Under the 2009 law, the government set up a public database listing major breaches, known informally as the “hall of shame.” Breaches on that list affected more than 40 million people over a decade, meaning that the Anthem case could be twice as damaging as all previous reported incidents combined.

Indiana University law Professor Nicolas Terry said it seemed at the time that the government had struck a reasonable balance, creating incentives for encryption while stopping short of imposing a one-size-fits-all solution. Now he’s concerned that the compromise has been overtaken by events.

“In today’s environment, we should expect all health care providers to encrypt their data from end to end,” said Terry, who specializes in health information technology.

If the voluntary approach isn’t working, “HHS should amend the security rule to make encryption mandatory,” he said.

The federal government also is investigating whether the personal information of Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries was stolen. Those government programs are a major contract business for Anthem.

The federal health care privacy law “was written largely for what was going on in the ’90s,” said Kibbe, the cyberstandards expert. “It was updated in 2009, but that wasn’t an overhaul. It was a tuneup.”