Cyb3rius
@cyb3rius
· 2d
How bad was the Change Healthcare ransomware attack?The February 2024 attack on UnitedHealth Group's Change Healthcare unit became the largest healthcare data breach in U.S. history, exposing the records of roughly 190 million people. It froze claims and pharmacy payments nationwide for weeks and cost the company billions.What happened: On Feb. 21, 2024, the ALPHV/BlackCat ransomware gang breached Change Healthcare using stolen credentials on a remote-access portal that was not protected by multi-factor authentication. UnitedHealth paid a $22 million bitcoin ransom, but the stolen data resurfaced and the RansomHub group demanded a second payment. In a January 2025 filing with the HHS Office for Civil Rights, the company confirmed about 190 million individuals were affected.Key numbers: $22 million ransom paid in bitcoin190 million people affected, per the company's federal breach filingMore than $3 billion in 2024 costs tied to the incidentWhy it matters: One unprotected login took down prescription processing and medical claims across the country, proving that extreme consolidation in healthcare IT turns a single intrusion into a systemic outage.Bottom line: MFA on remote access is not a compliance checkbox — at Change Healthcare, skipping it cost $22 million and the health data of 190 million people.
0