In February, Change Healthcare, a tech firm owned by UnitedHealth Group (UHG), underwent an enormous cyberattack that concerned paying a $22 million ransom to resolve.
On Thursday, UHG quantified the variety of individuals affected by the assault for the primary time, eight months after the breach occurred. A new submitting 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 Individuals, had their information stolen through the breach.
The cyberattack uncovered 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 Sufferers’ Private Knowledge Was Compromised
The scope of the assault makes it the biggest healthcare information breach ever, surpassing an Anthem incident in 2015 that affected nearly 79 million Individuals.
Based on a sworn statement given by UHG CEO Andrew Witty earlier than the Home Power and Commerce Committee, the information 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 cost 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 affected person prescriptions and course of billing for sufferers for weeks after it occurred.
The U.S. is experiencing an general enhance in information breaches. The nonprofit Identification Theft Useful resource Middle says there was a 72% rise in incidents from 2021 to 2023.