UnitedHealth’s Change unit faces sixth day of cyber security outage

TLDR:

Key points:

• Cybersecurity outage at UnitedHealth’s Change Healthcare unit has extended for six straight days
• The outage is expected to last at least through Monday

In the sixth day of the cybersecurity outage at UnitedHealth’s Change Healthcare unit, the problems are expected to last at least through Monday. The outage was caused by a suspected nation-state associated cybersecurity threat actor gaining access to Change Healthcare’s information technology systems. This has had knock-on effects on various pharmacy chains, with pharmacies across the nation reporting significant backlogs of prescriptions due to the inability to transmit insurance claims. Ratings agencies have expressed concerns about the impact of the hack on UnitedHealth Group’s credit rating, although it is not expected to have a material effect on the company’s financial performance.