News
Breach case · United States · February 2024
Change Healthcare Ransomware Attack
A ransomware attack on a major US healthcare payment processor disrupted claims processing nationwide.
Incident
What happened
Change Healthcare, part of UnitedHealth Group, suffered a ransomware attack that disrupted pharmacy and claims services.
Company leadership later testified that attackers used compromised credentials on a remote access portal without multifactor authentication.
The US Department of Health and Human Services published guidance on the incident.
Analysis
Lessons learned
Every remote access entry point must enforce MFA.
Concentration of critical services creates risk across the sector.
Business continuity planning must assume core systems can be unavailable for weeks.
Prevention
How penetration testing helps
Penetration testing and IT audits verify MFA coverage, remote access controls, and resilience of critical systems.
Sources
Summary based on publicly available information. DIGITPOL was not involved in this incident.