UnitedHealth CEO Says Hackers Lurked in Network for Nine Days Before Ransomware Strike

UnitedHealth CEO Says Hackers Lurked in Network for Nine Days Before Ransomware Strike

April 30, 2024 at 11:00PM

UnitedHealth Group CEO Andrew Witty testified that hackers used leaked credentials to access Change Healthcare’s Citrix portal, leading to a ransomware attack that compromised personal and health information of potentially millions of people in America. The company paid a ransom but was extorted a second time. They have incurred significant costs and are working on restoring affected systems.

Key takeaways from the meeting notes are as follows:
– The Alphv/BlackCat hackers infiltrated Change Healthcare’s environment for nine days and deployed file-encrypting ransomware.
– The attack exploited leaked credentials for a Citrix portal that lacked proper security measures.
– UnitedHealth Group’s CEO, Andrew Witty, is set to testify before a US Congress committee on May 1 regarding the attack.
– Compromised data includes personally identifiable information (PII) and protected health information (PHI) impacting a substantial proportion of people in America.
– The restoration operation involved rebuilding Change Healthcare’s technology infrastructure and providing substantial progress in restoring affected systems.
– UnitedHealth Group has disclosed costs of $872 million related to the ransomware attack, with potential for the costs to grow to $1.6 billion by the end of the year.

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