As many of you are aware Optum reported a cybersecurity incident that was suffered by Change Health Care, a subsidiary of Optum. As of the most recent update Change Health Care systems and applications remain offline. Optum made the decision to disconnect all Change Health Care systems when it was determined that a cybersecurity incident occurred, last Wednesday. This was done to lessen the spread of any potential cybersecurity impacts to its customer base.
Optum, during the investigation has a high level of confidence that the incident only affects the Change Health Care platform and have not found evidence of Optum or United Health Group systems being affected.
There is currently no timetable for return of services provided by Change Health Care. The organization is providing regular updates, which can be found here: Optum Solutions Status – Update: Some applications are experiencing connectivity issues. (changehealthcare.com) additionally, statuses of individual applications and services can be found here: Optum Solutions Status (changehealthcare.com).
At this time, we do not currently believe customers who use Change Health Care services are at risk of a cybersecurity impact due to incident. With that being said, it is imperative for organizations and their staff to stay vigilant to common tactics of threat actors including phishing, smishing, credential hijacking and bypassing of Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) Systems with techniques such as MFA fatigue attacks.
We will continue to monitor this incident as more information becomes available. Optum is working with CMS and other government agencies to address care issues that may result due to Change Health Care services being unavailable.
If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out directly to our Director of Cybersecurity at Bryan.Ament@bluenovo.com.