Massive Data Breach at Change Healthcare Affects 190 Million Americans

In February 2024, Change Healthcare suffered a ransomware attack attributed to the ALPHV group, impacting approximately 190 million individuals, making it the largest medical data breach in U.S. history. The attack exploited compromised credentials on a Citrix remote access portal lacking multi-factor authentication. Following the breach, sensitive data including health information, Social Security numbers, and financial details were exfiltrated. Change Healthcare paid a ransom of $22 million to prevent further data exposure. Subsequently, the company faced a second extortion attempt from a different ransomware group, RansomHub, claiming to possess 4 TB of data. The incident caused widespread disruptions across the U.S. healthcare system, affecting claims processing and patient care. Legal proceedings are ongoing as healthcare providers seek redress for the operational and financial fallout. Change Healthcare has since notified affected individuals and is working to restore full functionality.

Key Points: • Change Healthcare's ransomware attack impacted 190 million individuals, the largest in U.S. history. • The attack exploited compromised credentials on a Citrix portal without multi-factor authentication. • Change Healthcare paid a $22 million ransom and faced a second extortion attempt shortly after.