In February, Change Healthcare, a tech firm owned by UnitedHealth Group (UHG), underwent a massive cyberattack that concerned paying a $22 million ransom to resolve.
On Thursday, UHG quantified the variety of folks affected by the assault for the primary time, eight months after the breach occurred. A new filing within the U.S. Division of Well being and Human Providers portal on Thursday exhibits that one-third of the U.S. inhabitants, or about 100 million Americans, had their knowledge stolen through the breach.
The cyberattack exposed delicate well being data, like medical diagnoses, take a look at outcomes, drugs, and well being plans, in addition to Social Safety numbers and different personally identifiable info.
Associated: UnitedHealth Paid Ransom to Cyberhackers After Patients’ Personal Data Was Compromised
The scope of the assault makes it the most important healthcare knowledge breach ever, surpassing an Anthem incident in 2015 that affected almost 79 million Americans.
Based on a sworn statement given by UHG CEO Andrew Witty earlier than the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the info breach occurred when “criminals used compromised credentials” to get right into a Change healthcare portal that didn’t have multi-factor authentication enabled. Change handles fee processing for 15 billion medical claims per yr or about 40% of all claims; UHG acquired it in late 2022.
UHG CEO Andrew Witty. Photograph Credit score: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Name, Inc through Getty Photographs
The cyberattack disrupted day by day life — some medical suppliers, hospitals, and pharmacies had been unable to fulfill patient prescriptions and process billing for patients for weeks after it occurred.
The U.S. is experiencing an overall increase in knowledge breaches. The nonprofit Id Theft Useful resource Heart says there was a 72% rise in incidents from 2021 to 2023.
