UnitedHealth paid ransom in Change Healthcare cyberattack, says patient data was compromised
UnitedHealth said it paid ransom to protect patient data, following the cyberattack on its subsidiary Change Healthcare. But personal data was compromised anyway.
UnitedHealth Group on Monday said it paid ransom to cyberthreat actors to try to protect patient data, following the February cyberattack on its subsidiary Change Healthcare. The company also confirmed that files containing personal information were compromised in the breach.
“This attack was conducted by malicious threat actors, and we continue to work with the law enforcement and multiple leading cyber security firms during our investigation,” UnitedHealth told CNBC in a statement. “A ransom was paid as part of the company’s commitment to do all it could to protect patient data from disclosure.”
The company did not specify the ransom payment amount.
UnitedHealth, which has more than 152 million customers, said it has also determined that the cyberthreat actors accessed files containing protected health information and personally identifiable information, according to a release Monday.
The files “could cover a substantial proportion of people in America,” the release said.
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