100 Million Americans Affected in Change Healthcare Databreach
Keep am eye out for scams, and stay safe everyone!
Earlier in April, reports surfaced that many Americans may have had their health and personal data stolen in a Change Healthcare breach. Change Healthcare is a subsidiary of the UnitedHealth Group and processes about 50% of US medical claims.
The attack was one of the worst ransomware attacks on the American healthcare system and caused widespread disruption in payments to doctors and health facilities. On July 19th this summer, Change Healthcare filed a breach report stating 500 people were affected (the minimum on the report site), presumably while they were unsure of the damage. On October 24th, Change Healthcare updated its report to 100 million people affected by the breach.
To protect yourself and your loved ones from this, go to changecybersupport.com, a dedicated support site set up in the wake of the breach. You should also reach out to your family, and warn them of the potential scams because of the breach. With how detailed some of the data may be, people may try to impersonate your healthcare provider with scarily accurate information about you. If you are contacted directly about the breach, I recommend hanging up and calling your provider about it directly through the phone number listed on their website. One trick I like to use is saving your provider's phone number into your phone contacts, with a profile picture. If you get a call from that number and it shows your profile picture, it is likely legitimate. If it only shows the name, not the photo, proceed cautiously. Caller ID can be faked very easily.
More information about the breach can be found here: https://www.malwarebytes.com/blog/news/2024/10/100-million-us-citizens-officially-impacted-by-change-healthcare-data-breach