The health care company has ties with Russian-linked criminals

A Cyberattack on the Healthcare Sector: The UnitedHealth Group vs. Palo Alto Networks and Google-Inspired Mandiant

Blackcat has been warned by federal agencies that it is now targeting the healthcare system. “Since mid-December 2023, of the nearly 70 leaked victims, the healthcare sector has been the most commonly victimized,” the agencies wrote.

Change healthcare is a middleman between healthcare providers and insurance companies which has resulted in a malfunction of transactions. The SEC filing says that the company first identified suspicious activity on February 21st.

Dirk McMahon, chief operating officer of UnitedHealth Group, said that the breech could last for weeks. The healthcare providers will be getting a loan program from the insurance company.

Blackcat, also known as ALPHV, has claimed credit for numerous hacks over the past year, including the MGM casino breach in Las Vegas, a hack on Reddit’s systems, and many others.

The US government has even offered a combined $15 million reward for any actionable intelligence on the group’s whereabouts. An attempt by the FBI to seize Blackcat’s servers and sites last year seemingly failed —the group quickly regained control.

UnitedHealth is currently working with Google-owned Mandiant and cybersecurity software vendor Palo Alto Networks, CNBC reports. The company hasn’t offered a clue as to whether or not it will pay the ransom.

Patients are having to fill prescriptions and seek medical treatment due to a hospital and pharmacy being shut down by a cyber attack.

Hospitals, pharmacies, and other health care providers have either been unable to access the payment platform or have been shutting their connections to it to prevent the hackers from gaining further access.

UnitedHealth estimates that more than 70 percent of its US drugstores have had to change the way they process claims because of the outage.

Black Cat’s Attempt to Harness Medicare Employees and Veterans: A Case Study in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Black Cat’s ability to break into one of the largest health care entities shows how difficult it is to hamper these groups long-term.

Cybercriminals reassemble after experiencing setbacks, such as when their operators are located in countries that don’t prosecute their crimes.

In addition, Black Cat has claimed that it stole classified documents and sensitive data about US Department of Defense employees from federal contractors.