UnitedHealth, a Health Insurance Company, and Change Healthcare: A Critical Outage Involving Doctors, Clinics, and Pharmacy Networks
A cyber attack on healthcare providers nationwide has been identified as the work of Blackcat, according to UnitedHealth, a health insurer. The attack has led to more than a week-long outage of the the United-owned Change Healthcare system, disrupting payments at hospitals, clinics, and pharmacies across the nation.
The theft of sensitive records from UnitedHealth could potentially affect millions of people. The American Hospital Association stated in a letter to the HHS Secretary that change healthcare handles 1 in 3 patient records in the US. The full set of health care services will be adversely impacted if there is a long-term disruption of Change healthcare’s systems.
The chief operating officer of UnitedHealth Group said the breach could go on for weeks. The insurance company is setting up a loan program for healthcare providers in the meantime.
Blackcat has claimed credit for numerous hacks over the past year, including the MGM casino breach in Las Vegas, a hack on reddit’s systems, and many others.
Just a few months ago, the FBI broke into the groups’ internal servers, stealing information about decryption tools for victims and seizing control of several of its websites. The U.S. government celebrated the disruption, a major operation with multiple foreign governments involved. The Justice Department has once again hacked the hackers, according to a news release by a deputy attorney general.
UnitedHealth is currently working with Google-owned Mandiant and cybersecurity software vendor Palo Alto Networks, CNBC reports. The company hasn’t indicated whether it plans to pay the ransom.
A ransomware attack is disrupting pharmacies and hospitals nationwide, leaving patients with problems filling prescriptions or seeking medical treatment.
Hospitals, clinics and other health care providers have been unable to use the popular payment platform or have shut off their connections to prevent the hackers from gaining further access.
UnitedHealth said it had estimated that most of the 70,000 pharmacies in the US had to change how they process electronic claims as a result of the outage.
Breaking a healthcare system with hackers: a case study of the Black Cat operative on the Los Alamos employee compensation program in the United States
It is hard to hamper groups long-term when they are able to break through one of the largest health care entities in the US.
Cybercriminals reassemble after experiencing setbacks, usually when their operators are located in countries that don’t prosecute their crimes.
Black Cat recently claimed to have obtained classified documents and personal data of Department of Defense employees while doing work for federal contractors.