UnitedHealth CEO Andrew Witty said the hack was possible because their systems lacked multifactor authentication
At a Senate hearing yesterday, lawmakers criticized UnitedHealth Group’s response to a large-scale cyberattack on Change Healthcare, which manages a third of the country’s patient records and 15 billion transactions annually.
United faced scrutiny over its security lapses. CEO Andrew Witty said the hack was possible because their systems lacked multifactor authentication. He also admitted that the corporation paid a $22 million bitcoin ransom.
The Congress hearing also raised concerns over United’s extensive market dominance and the potential adverse effects on competition.
With revenues hitting $372 billion last year, Change Healthcare processes 50% of all claims in the US. The cyberattack in February disrupted medical claims processing nationwide, impacting patients and providers. It is attributed to the cybercriminal group AlphV.
United oversees nearly one in 10 doctors in the country, per the New York Times.