Nebraska Legal professional Normal Mike Hilgers filed a lawsuit final week in Lancaster County District Court docket towards Change Healthcare alleging violations of the state’s Client Safety and Knowledge Safety Legal guidelines.
The grievance stems from a February data breach and subsequent operational shutdown that uncovered the non-public and digital protected well being data of what the Legal professional Normal’s Workplace believes to be no less than lots of of hundreds of Nebraskans, if not over one million.
The Change Healthcare knowledge breach started on February 11, 2024, when the username and password of a low-level buyer assist worker have been posted in a Telegram group chat infamous for promoting stolen credentials. Utilizing these credentials, a hacker accessed Change’s methods by means of a distant entry service known as Citrix.
For over 9 days, the hacker navigated Change’s methods undetected, creating privileged administrator accounts, putting in malware, and exfiltrating terabytes of delicate knowledge.
The stolen knowledge included Social Safety numbers, driver’s license numbers, medical insurance data, medical data, billing particulars, and extra. Defendants did not detect this exercise till February 21, 2024, when the hacker deployed ransomware, crippling Change’s methods. In response, Change took its methods offline, successfully shutting down its operations and exacerbating the hurt.
The breach triggered widespread disruption to Nebraska’s healthcare system, significantly affecting rural hospitals and important entry amenities working on already skinny margins, the Legal professional Normal’s Workplace mentioned.
:Healthcare suppliers, together with important entry hospitals in rural areas, have unfairly been compelled to soak up monetary ache, forcing main money stream points and, in some circumstances, delayed companies,” Hilgers mentioned in assertion. “And to make issues worse, Change has woefully disregarded the responsibility to offer discover to Nebraskans, depriving them of a preventing likelihood to be ready for potential scams and fraud. We’re submitting this swimsuit to carry Change accountable.”
The Legal professional Normal’s Workplace can be calling on Nebraska healthcare suppliers who could have been affected by this cyberattack to return ahead. Suppliers can submit their contact to the Nebraska Legal professional Normal’s Workplace at ProtectTheGoodLife.Nebraska.gov.
Supply: Nebraska Legal professional Normal’s Workplace
Curious about Cyber?
Get automated alerts for this subject.
