"Healthcare Industry Hit by $22 Million Ransomware Attack, Disrupting Provider Payments and Drug Access"

A post on a hacker forum claims that UnitedHealth Group paid $22 million to the "Blackcat" ransomware gang to recover access to encrypted data and systems. While neither UnitedHealth nor the hackers have commented on the alleged ransom payment, a cryptocurrency tracing firm partially corroborated the claim. Large companies victimized by ransomware often opt to pay hackers to regain control of their networks, especially in cases of significant disruption. The break-in at UnitedHealth's Change Healthcare unit has caused widespread disruption, with the American Medical Association requesting emergency funds to help physicians affected by the outage.