UnitedHealth Group, one of the largest health insurance providers in the United States, recently disclosed that a ransomware attack on its subsidiary, Change Healthcare, has led to a significant theft of private healthcare data belonging to a “substantial proportion of people in America.”
TechCrunch reports that the cyberattack, which began on February 21, 2024, caused widespread disruptions at pharmacies and hospitals across the country. Healthcare providers faced financial pressures as backlogs grew and outages lingered, with much of the U.S. healthcare system grinding to a halt. Change Healthcare, which processes insurance and billing for numerous healthcare facilities, has access to massive amounts of health information on approximately half of all Americans.
UnitedHealth stated that the data review process is expected to take several months before the company can begin notifying affected individuals. While the company has not yet seen evidence of doctors’ charts or complete medical histories being stolen, the hackers managed to exfiltrate files containing personal data and protected health information.
The ransomware attack was allegedly carried out by a Russia-based criminal gang called ALPHV, which reportedly received a $22 million ransom payment from Change Healthcare in March. However, a second hacking group, RansomHub, has since emerged, claiming to possess the stolen data and demanding an additional ransom. UnitedHealth confirmed that a second ransom was paid “as part of the company’s commitment to do all it could to protect patient data from disclosure.”
The financial impact of the cyberattack has been substantial, with UnitedHealth reporting losses exceeding $870 million. Despite this, the company still managed to generate $99.8 billion in revenue during the first three months of the year, surpassing Wall Street analysts’ expectations.
Read more at TechCrunch here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.
