UnitedHealth Group said it had paid a ransom to cyber threat actors to protect patient data following the cyberattack on its subsidiary Change Healthcare. The organization also confirmed that files containing personal information were compromised due to the breach.   

The health organization has not specified the amount they have paid in ransom to the threat actors.   

UnitedHealth, having more than 152 million customers, said it has also determined that the cyber threat actors accessed files containing protected health information and personally identifiable information, according to a press release on Monday.   

The files that have been compromised could cover a substantial proportion of people in America, the release also stated.   

Moreover, Change Healthcare offers payment and revenue cycle management tools. The organization also aids more than 15 million transactions annually. Along with 1 in every three patient records passes through its systems. This means even patients who are not UnitedHealth customers could have been affected by the cyberattack.   

UnitedHealth stated in its release that 22 screenshots, allegedly of the compromised files, have been uploaded to the dark web. The organization has said that no other data has been published. Moreover, there is no evidence that doctors’ charts or full medical histories were used in the cyberattack.   

Similarly, UnitedHealth has stated that concerned patients can also visit a dedicated website to access resources. The organization has launched a call center that shall offer free identity theft protection and credit monitoring for two years.   

Further, UnitedHealth has also claimed that the call center will not be able to offer any details about individual data impact given the “ongoing nature and complexity of the data review.”

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