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An ongoing cyberattack at U.S. wellness tech behemoth Change Healthcare thatsparked outage and commotion to infirmary and chemist’s shop across the U.S. for the past weekwas induce by ransomware , TechCrunch has get wind .
A healthcare executive with knowledge of the incident , who was on the call briefed by the company ’s executive , say the healthcare technical school giant attribute the cyberattack to the BlackCat ransomware chemical group .
Reuters first reported the newslinking the cyberattack to BlackCat , citing two the great unwashed familiar with the incident .
A spokesperson for Change Healthcare did not immediately reply to a asking for remark .
BlackCat , also often referred to as ALPHV , has not yet publically claimed responsibility for the cyberattack . Ransomware and extortion gangs typically issue share of a victim ’s stolen data to extort a ransom money demand . Ransomware attack typically scramble a victim ’s files and necessitate a ransom to receive the decipherment headstone . Newer cyberattacks often involve cybercriminals stealing a dupe ’s data before encrypting it .
It ’s not yet be intimate if patient data was steal in the ransomware attack .
UnitedHealth Group ( UHG ) , the parent company of Change Healthcare and the largest U.S. wellness insurance provider , said in a administration regulatory filing last week that itidentified a “ suspected land - res publica ” threat actor in its systems , but did not attribute the cyberattack to a specific government or state .
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The truth of UHG ’s cyberattack ascription remain indecipherable , as cybersecurity research worker have not previously linked the BlackCat mob to a country - state or authorities .
Change Healthcare is an American healthcare technical school giant and one of the country ’s large processors of prescription medications , treat prescriptions and billing for more than 67,000 apothecary’s shop across the U.S. healthcare system . The company deal 15 billion healthcare transaction annually — or about one in three U.S. patient role disc .
Change Healthcare merged with healthcare provider Optum in 2022 as part of a $ 7.8 billion sight under UnitedHealth Group . The deal allowed Optum broad accession to patient records handled by Change Healthcare .
UnitedHealth Group conjointly provides over 53 million U.S. customer with benefit plans and another 5 million outside of the United States , according toits latest full - year earnings composition . Optum serves about 103 million U.S. client .
The cyberattack at Change Healthcarebegan on February 21early on the U.S. East Coast , causing widespread outages at pharmacy and healthcare installation . Change Healthcare said it took much of its systems offline to rout out the drudge from its systems .
variety Healthcare’sincident tracker pageshows nearly all of its client - facing system remain offline .
hospital , health care providers and pharmaceutics have reported that they are ineffectual to satisfy or process prescription through patient ’ insurance .
The American Hospital Association ( AHA ) , which represents more than 5,000 hospitals and healthcare providers , toldits members in a notice last Fridayto “ moot disconnect from Optum until it is independently deemed safe to reconnect , ” and warned of “ significant cascading and disruptive effects ” triggered by the cyberattack .
Columbia University , which lean one of New York ’s large hospitals , told staff on Friday todisconnect all its systemsfrom UnitedHealth Group , Change Healthcare and Optum and blank out access to their email domains .
Tricare , the U.S. armed services ’s health insurance provider for active military personnel , saidin a statementthat the cyberattack at Change Healthcare is “ touch on all military pharmacies worldwide and some retail pharmacies nationwide . ”
BlackCat / ALPHV have antecedently taken credit entry for cyberattacks targetingU.S. healthcare giant Norton , news - share-out site Reddit , andmortgage and loan giant Fidelity National Financial .
Do you sour at LoanDepot and get laid more about the incident ? you could contact Zack Whittaker on Signal and WhatsApp at +1 646 - 755 - 8849 , orby email . You also can contact us viaSecureDrop .
US health tech heavyweight Change Healthcare hit by cyberattack
