UnitedHealthcare, one of the biggest healthcare insurance companies in the US, confirmed that its online systems are operational again following a major cyberattack last February.
The insurance firm announced on Thursday that all of its payment platforms will be back to normal by March 15, a month after ransomware impacted its Change Healthcare tech unit.
(Photo : Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)
Online portals for medical claim submissions are also expected to return on March 18. Reuters first reported UnitedHealthcare's announcement.
The announcement came after the insurance company reportedly paid the hackers $22 million to recover sensitive patient and employee data.
The attacks were pointed to ransomware group "BlackCat," a notorious cybercriminal group responsible for the data breaches on MGM casinos, Vans parent company VF Corp, and Italian energy companies.
BlackCat held Change Healthcare's data for ransom for almost a week.
Also Read: US Pharmacies Became Target of Nationwide Ransomware Attacks
BlackCat Re-Emerges After FBI Bust
The recent attack on Change Healthcare is the first reported incident involving BlackCat after its platforms were supposedly taken down by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Last December, the FBI announced that it was successful in disrupting BlackCat's operations in an international collaborative effort to crack down on its dark web sites.
The operations, however, were not able to arrest any members of the group, only decreasing monthly reported attacks of the group from 60 to below 30, according to the Wired.
BlackCat, also known as AlphV, is notorious for immediately recovering from government-led cyberattacks as the group is quick to launch another hosting site after one went down.
The group has even been reported to advertise that it would target "hospitals, nuclear power plants, anything and anywhere" following the FBI crackdown.
US Gov't Increases Efforts to Combat International Hacking Groups
With the increase of cyberattacks in the US, several lawmakers and agencies have been proposing to take further steps to provide better protection in the country's digital space.
So far, defense agencies like the Department of Home Security and the Central Intelligence Agency have turned to AI to amplify their capabilities for surveillance and counterintelligence operations.
Related Article: US Gov't Tries to Catch Up with AI Advancement for Healthcare Use
