Massive data breach hits UnitedHealth tech unit

A cyberattack on Change, the tech unit of UnitedHealth, exposed personal information of 100 million people. The breach, reported in February, is now officially recognised as the largest healthcare data breach in US history. Hackers, identified as the ALPHV group, disrupted claims processing, impacting patients and providers nationwide.

UnitedHealth started notifying affected individuals in June, warning that the breach may have compromised member IDs, diagnoses, treatment data, social security numbers, and billing codes. The company is still investigating the full impact and working to contact those affected promptly.

The hack mirrors the scale of a 2015 breach at health insurer Anthem, which compromised nearly 79 million records. UnitedHealth’s business is forecast to take a hit of $705 million this year due to payment disruptions and customer notifications.

The US healthcare giant provided loans to help providers cope with financial strain caused by the incident. Despite ongoing recovery efforts, the breach continues to highlight the sector’s vulnerabilities to ransomware attacks.