About Thomas Kocanda

Thomas is a security and compliance education consultant at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska. In this role, Thomas focuses on organization-wide oversight and education related to security, privacy and the organization’s Code of Conduct. Prior to being with BCBSNE, Thomas was an instructor at the University of Nebraska.

Three tips to protect yourself from health care fraud

Looking to protect yourself from fraud, identity theft and scams? Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska (BCBSNE) has information for you during National Consumer Protection Week (NCPW) and any time of the year. NCPW is a time when government agencies, consumer protection groups and organizations like BCBSNE work together to share information about consumer

By |2024-08-12T11:09:14-05:00March 4th, 2024|Categories: Insurance 101, Topics|Tags: , , |Comments Off on Three tips to protect yourself from health care fraud

What you need to know about COVID at-home test kit scams impacting Medicare members

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska (BCBSNE) is aware of recent situations where individuals with Medicare have either: Received COVID at-home test kits in the mail that they never ordered, or Received an Explanation of Benefits (EOB) for COVID test kits that they never ordered and never received. In these cases, the Medicare members

By |2023-06-22T11:21:29-05:00June 23rd, 2023|Categories: Insurance 101, Topics|Tags: , , |Comments Off on What you need to know about COVID at-home test kit scams impacting Medicare members

Traveling this summer? Here are some tips to stay cyber secure

Tom Kocanda is a security and compliance education consultant at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska (BCBSNE). In his role, he helps employees learn how to stay safe online.  Along with the warmer weather comes school break and, of course, the much-anticipated summer getaway. Whether you are taking a road trip somewhere nearby or

By |2022-12-22T16:13:36-06:00July 25th, 2022|Categories: Team Blue, Topics|Tags: , , , |Comments Off on Traveling this summer? Here are some tips to stay cyber secure

Beware of at-home COVID-19 testing scams

Since the White House’s announcement in January of additional plans to help Americans fight the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, cybercriminals have been looking for new ways to exploit the programs to put extra cash in their pockets. A popular tactic for scammers is to piggyback on the news of at-home COVID-19 tests being made available to

Tips for sharing your COVID-19 vaccine experience on social media

Tom Kocanda is an enterprise security education consultant at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska. In his role, he helps employees learn how to stay safe online. As COVID-19 vaccines become more readily available, the number of Nebraskans who are getting the highly anticipated arm poke is also quickly increasing. For many, it’s a

Employees can help keep companies cybersecure

As online threats continue to make headlines, one thing 2020 has shown is the primary target of bad guys is increasingly people. This makes sense—why spend all that time trying to hack past security systems when it is generally easier to trick someone into letting you in? Think of it like a car alarm: the

As pandemic-themed scams continue, learn how to identify a scammer

Tom Kocanda is an enterprise security education consultant at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska. In his role, he helps employees learn how to stay safe online. Cyber criminals continue to use the COVID-19 pandemic as a vehicle to cash in, using fear and confusion to trick people out of money and personal information.

By |2021-01-04T15:18:04-06:00January 4th, 2021|Categories: Team Blue|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , |Comments Off on As pandemic-themed scams continue, learn how to identify a scammer

Staying safe and secure online this school year

School is back in session, and as we all know, it’s much different than any year before. Schools across the country are adopting various forms of all-digital or blended virtual and in-person classrooms. With this new normal comes an increased use of online learning, which makes it even more important to make sure students don’t

Protect yourself from ransomware

Ransomware is a type of malicious software (malware) that cyber criminals use to lock you out of your files until you pay the bad guys to release them. It’s a growing online threat and a growing source of cash for the criminals. The most recent numbers from the Department of Homeland Security, pre-COVID-19, show that

Is that article really true? Here’s how to find out

The internet is rich in information and resources. But, with any open forum, some content found online may be designed to misinform or take advantage of you. Honing your critical thinking skills is by far the best defense against scammers and purveyors of misinformation who lurk online. Those skills can raise red flags telling you

By |2020-10-06T16:03:40-05:00August 6th, 2020|Categories: Team Blue|Tags: , , , , , , |Comments Off on Is that article really true? Here’s how to find out
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