A potential ransomware assault on a unit related to UnitedHealthcare — the most important insurer within the U.S. — has upset drug prescription orders at hundreds of pharmacies for the previous week.
The cyberattack, detected February 21, focused Change Healthcare, a division of United’s Optum; two senior federal legislation enforcement officers mentioned it appeared like a international nation had undertaken the assault, The New York Instances reported.
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Change, which was acquired by UnitedHealth Group for $13 billion in 2022, is accountable for roughly 15 billion transactions a yr, spanning U.S. affected person data and prescriptions throughout dental, medical, and different medical areas. It serves as a “digital middleman” for pharmacies that want to substantiate a affected person’s protection, per the outlet.
Knowledge breaches within the U.S. are at an all-time excessive, in keeping with a report from Apple: Within the first 9 months of 2023, information breaches nationwide elevated by nearly 20% in comparison with all of 2022.
“This [UnitedHealthcare] incident serves as one more reminder of the interconnectedness of the home healthcare ecosystem and of the urgency of strengthening cybersecurity resiliency throughout the ecosystem,” Jeff Nesbit, a spokesman for the U.S. Division of Well being and Human Providers, instructed the Instances.
Change mentioned in a press release Monday that it had “labored intently with prospects and purchasers to make sure individuals have entry to the medicines and the care they want” and that many pharmacies have been in a position to maintain filling prescriptions regardless of the problem.
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It stays to be seen if affected person data was breached; if it was, federal legislation requires “distributors of private well being data and associated entities” to tell these affected.
