Link: Change Healthcare confirms ransomware hackers stole medical records on a 'substantial proportion' of Americans | TechCrunch

Change Healthcare has confirmed a February ransomware attack on its systems, which brought widespread disruption to the U.S. healthcare system for weeks and resulted in the theft of medical records affecting a “substantial proportion of people in America.” The health tech giant, owned by U.S. insurance conglomerate UnitedHealth Group, processes patient insurance and billing for thousands of hospitals, pharmacies and medical practices across the U.S. healthcare sector. As such, the company has access to massive amounts of health information on about a third of all Americans. The cyberattack prompted the company to shut down its systems, resulting in outages and delays to thousands of healthcare providers who rely on Change, and affecting countless patients who could not obtain prescriptions or had medical care or procedures delayed. The affected information includes personal information, such as names and addresses, dates of birth, phone numbers and email addresses, as well as government identity documents, such as Social Security numbers, driver licenses and passport numbers. The data also includes medical records and health information, such as diagnoses, medications, test results, imaging and care and treatment plans, said Change. The hackers stole health insurance information, including plan and policy details, as well as billing, claims and payment information, which Change said includes financial and banking information. #

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Yoooo, this is a quick note on a link that made me go, WTF? Find all past links here.