The Biden Administration is moving to cybersecurity standards for hospitals, but the AHA is pushing back, saying voluntary models are enough.

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UnitedHealth Group has given an update on the February cyberattack on Change Healthcare, one of its subsidiaries. In the update, the company revealed the scale of the breach, saying:

“Based on initial targeted data sampling to date, the company has found files containing protected health information (PHI) or personally identifiable information (PII), which could cover a substantial proportion of people in America.”

UnitedHealth also announced support for affected people.

On Wednesday February 21, 2024, Change Healthcare experienced serious system outages due to the cyberattack. The incident led to widespread billing outages, as well as disruptions at pharmacies across the United States.

The attack on Change Healthcare, which processes about 50% of US medical claims, was one of the worst ransomware attacks against American healthcare and caused widespread disruption in payments to doctors and health facilities.

Despite the ongoing investigation, which expectedly will take several more months of detailed analysis, UnitedHealth said it had decided to immediately provide support. The company says it continues to monitor the regular web and the dark web for any published data.

The chief executive of UnitedHealth Group, Andrew Witty, is expected to testify in Congress in May about the matter. Meanwhile the company says it has made strong progress restoring services impacted by the event and is prioritizing the restoration of services that impact patient access to care or medication.

Affected people can visit a dedicated website at changecybersupport.com to get more information, or call 1-866-262-5342 to set up free credit monitoring and identity theft protection.

Protecting yourself from a data breach

There are some actions you can take if you are, or suspect you may have been, the victim of a data breach.

• Check the vendor’s advice. Every breach is different, so check with the vendor to find out what’s happened, and follow any specific advice they offer.
• Change your password. You can make a stolen password useless to thieves by changing it. Choose a strong password that you don’t use for anything else. Better yet, let a password manager choose one for you.
• Enable two-factor authentication (2FA). If you can, use a FIDO2-compliant hardware key, laptop or phone as your second factor. Some forms of two-factor authentication (2FA) can be phished just as easily as a password. 2FA that relies on a FIDO2 device can’t be phished.
• Watch out for fake vendors. The thieves may contact you posing as the vendor. Check the vendor website to see if they are contacting victims, and verify any contacts using a different communication channel.
• Take your time. Phishing attacks often impersonate people or brands you know, and use themes that require urgent attention, such as missed deliveries, account suspensions, and security alerts.
• Set up identity monitoring. Identity monitoring alerts you if your personal information is found being traded illegally online, and helps you recover after.

Check your digital footprint

Malwarebytes has a new free tool for you to check how much of your personal data has been exposed online. Submit your email address (it’s best to give the one you most frequently use) to our free Digital Footprint scan and we’ll give you a report and recommendations.

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Cybersecurity risks should never spread beyond a headline. Protect your—and your family’s—personal information by using identity protection

On Wednesday February 21, 2024, Change Healthcare—a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group—experienced serious system outages due to a cyberattack.

In a Form 8-K filing the company said it:

“identified a suspected nation-state associated cyber security threat actor had gained access to some of the Change Healthcare information technology systems.”

Change Healthcare is one of the largest healthcare technology companies in the United States. Its subsidiary, Optum Solutions, operates the Change Healthcare platform. This platform is the largest payment exchange platform between doctors, pharmacies, healthcare providers, and patients in the US healthcare system.

The incident led to widespread billing outages, as well as disruptions at pharmacies across the United States.

According to Reuters, the group behind the attack is the ALPHV/BlackCat ransomware group. ALPHV is currently one of the most active groups, and generally associated with Russia. They are certainly no strangers to attacking healthcare providers. In our monthly ransomware reviews you will typically find them in the top five of ransomware groups. Even after a disruption in December 2023 they returned and maintained a high level of activity.

BleepingComputer confirmed Reuters assertion, saying it had received information from forensic experts involved in the incident response that linked the attack to the ALPHV ransomware gang.

It would certainly make more sense to us that the attacker was a ransomware group than a nation-state associated group, but both ALPHV and UnitedHealth have not commented on this. That’s no surprise since the investigation is probably still ongoing and solving the security issue is a higher priority.

What the ramifications of any stolen data are, remains to be seen, but they could be very serious given the size of the company and the nationwide application of their electronic health record (EHR) systems, payment processing, care coordination, and data analytics.

In a February 26 update the company says it took immediate action to disconnect Change Healthcare’s systems in order to prevent further impact. You can follow updates about the issue on the dedicated incident report site.

How to avoid ransomware

• Block common forms of entry. Create a plan for patching vulnerabilities in internet-facing systems quickly; and disable or harden remote access like RDP and VPNs.
• Prevent intrusions. Stop threats early before they can even infiltrate or infect your endpoints. Use endpoint security software that can prevent exploits and malware used to deliver ransomware.
• Detect intrusions. Make it harder for intruders to operate inside your organization by segmenting networks and assigning access rights prudently. Use EDR or MDR to detect unusual activity before an attack occurs.
• Stop malicious encryption. Deploy Endpoint Detection and Response software like ThreatDown EDR that uses multiple different detection techniques to identify ransomware, and ransomware rollback to restore damaged system files.
• Create offsite, offline backups. Keep backups offsite and offline, beyond the reach of attackers. Test them regularly to make sure you can restore essential business functions swiftly.
• Don’t get attacked twice. Once you’ve isolated the outbreak and stopped the first attack, you must remove every trace of the attackers, their malware, their tools, and their methods of entry, to avoid being attacked again.

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