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Zack Whittaker

BREAKING: UnitedHealth has confirmed the ransomware attack and data breach on its Change Healthcare subsidiary in February 2024 now affects around 190 million people — almost double the previous estimate.

techcrunch.com/2025/01/24/unit

TechCrunch · UnitedHealth confirms 190 million Americans affected by Change Healthcare data breach | TechCrunch
More from Zack Whittaker

The ransomware attack on Change Healthcare was one of the biggest data breaches of 2024 — and believed to be the largest theft of medical data in U.S. history. We have a timeline of how the entire ransomware attack and aftermath went down.

techcrunch.com/2024/12/18/how-

TechCrunch · How the ransomware attack at Change Healthcare went down: A timeline | TechCrunch
More from Zack Whittaker

@zackwhittaker

Just one of *many* reasons I refuse to even consider United as an option...

United is a Robber Baron company with no regard for it's customers except how best to fleece them.

🤦‍♀️🤬🫏🤡

@lupus_blackfur @zackwhittaker You might not have a choice. United owned a major payment processor that a lot of other health services use. That's why the number is so high.

@jhooper @zackwhittaker

Maybe...

But I can at least not choose them on purpose.

And, of course, that's what I meant and what I can control.

I'll avoid them in every way possible.

🤷🤷

@lupus_blackfur @zackwhittaker True, and I'm not saying you shouldn't do so. It's just so hard sometimes.

@lupus_blackfur @zackwhittaker oh, yeah, they’re bastards. I don’t know anyone who chooses them voluntarily. But when your employer offers them or Kaiser, and you live over an hour from anyone in network for Kaiser…

@zackwhittaker the absolute gall to have everything user-facing require, like, notarized requests submitted to the favorite grandchild of the CEO of the company that manufactured each drug you take, while internally a single customer support password without MFA can access everything.

@zackwhittaker In a better world we would nationalize this shit and get rid of these for profit fuckers

@zackwhittaker My wife works in the privacy department of a University that has hospitals and other health services under their umbrella, and she told me months ago that they knew it was this high, since their major payment processor was hit. I'm frequently surprised how little they have been admitting this whole time.

@zackwhittaker

They. Always. Lie. In. The. First. Rounds. Of. Releasing. Info.

Allllllways

It's one of the unwritten first steps of crisis management pr.

@zackwhittaker

Classic crisis management PR technique: initially issue some lowball estimate of “those affected” then ages later drop a bigger number out there and nobody will remember it.

Oil and gas industry does the same thing: oh, turns out it wasn’t 900 barrels of crude oil, it was 500 billion barrels of crude oil, hee hee sorry

(Edit: oops I now see @Maxfieldripken made same point)

@zackwhittaker
They somehow found new ways to keep being incredibly unpopular.