UnitedHealth's Change Healthcare Cyberattack: CEO to Testify, Data Compromised

Apr 22, 2024, 10:39 PM

UnitedHealth's Change Healthcare, a technology unit of the health insurance giant, was the target of a significant cyberattack that began on February 12, earlier than previously known. The breach, which involved compromised credentials, allowed hackers to access a remote-access application and resulted in a month-long disruption of payments to healthcare providers. Congressional leaders held a hearing on the same day as UnitedHealth's earnings call to address the incident. UnitedHealth confirmed that it paid a ransom to the hackers and that the attack compromised the health data of a substantial proportion of Americans. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported a 278% increase in large ransomware breaches in the healthcare sector from 2018 to 2022. The UnitedHealth CEO is scheduled to testify before the US House Panel regarding the cyberattack.