{"id":25379,"date":"2024-10-25T09:10:09","date_gmt":"2024-10-25T17:10:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/2024\/10\/25\/news-19109\/"},"modified":"2024-10-25T09:10:09","modified_gmt":"2024-10-25T17:10:09","slug":"news-19109","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/2024\/10\/25\/news-19109\/","title":{"rendered":"100 million US citizens officially impacted by Change Healthcare data breach"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In April, we reported<\/a> that a \u201csubstantial proportion\u201d of Americans may have had their health and personal data stolen in the Change Healthcare breach. That was based on a report<\/a> provided by the UnitedHealth Group after\u00a0the February cyberattack on its subsidiary Change Healthcare.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

UnitedHealth CEO Andrew Witty estimated the attack compromised the data of a third of US individuals<\/a> when he testified before the Senate Finance Committee on Capitol Hill on May 1, 2024 in Washington, DC.<\/p>\n

He wasn\u2019t exaggerating. Yesterday, Change Healthcare reported a number of 100,000,000 affected individuals on the breach portal of the US Department of Health and Human Services<\/a> (HHS).<\/p>\n

\"Change<\/figure>\n

The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the HHS confirmed that it prioritized and opened investigations of Change Healthcare and UnitedHealth Group, focused on whether a breach of protected health information (PHI) occurred and on the entities\u2019 compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Rules<\/a>. OCR did this because of the cyberattack\u2019s unprecedented impact on patient care and privacy.<\/p>\n

On July 19, 2024, Change Healthcare filed a breach report with OCR that identified 500 individuals as the \u201capproximate number of individuals affected.\u201d This is the minimum number of individuals affected that results in a posting of a breach on the HHS Breach Portal, and it was perhaps cited because Change Healthcare still needed to determine the actual number of impacted users.<\/p>\n

Acting Director of the Office for Civil Rights at the US Department of Health & Human Services Melanie Fontes Rainer said about 140 million people were affected by large breaches in 2023, up from 51 million in 2022. And 2024 looks even worse, she added:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cAnd this year, with both the Change breach and Ascension breach, we expect that number to potentially double or go higher.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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

Protecting yourself after a data breach<\/strong><\/h2>\n

There are some actions you can take if you are, or suspect you may have been, the victim of a data breach<\/a>.<\/p>\n