So, I’ve got some intriguing news from yesterday. It seems that a company by the name of Change Healthcare had a bit of a wobble. Early birds over there noticed that they were having some troubles with their connectivity across the board. Hectic, right? At the break of dawn, they weren’t jumping to conclusions about any malicious intent. However, by lunchtime, their status updates were making noises about a “network interruption related to a cyber security issue.” Sound ominous? Just wait.
Before the clock struck three, they were saying, “Once we twigged the potential threat, we legged it to disconnect our systems in the nick of time to guard our partners and patients and stop the rot.” Their statement continued, “The trouble is expected to persist at least for the rest of the day. We’ll keep you posted as more details emerge.”
Ever since then, they’ve been giving reports every few hours. It must be all hands on deck over there! As of this morning, they’ve stopped predicting when things will be ship-shape again. Their latest update simply states that they will provide more details when they are available. It’s all a bit up in the air, really.
Now, this isn’t just a minor hiccup. It appears to have thrown a spanner in the works for a whole assortment of Change Healthcare’s operations, from Clinical Networks and Medical Networks, to Patient Engagement and Medical Record Retrieval. The list goes on: Risk Adjustment, Value-Based Care, Pharmacy Benefits, you name it. The whole kit and caboodle seems to have taken a hit.
What makes this all the more bewildering is that nobody’s owned up to the mischief yet. Normally, a ransomware group would be blowing their own trumpet by this point. Not in this case. We’ve sent a few feelers out, and will let you know if anything pops up on the radar.
The last piece of the puzzle worth mentioning is this: Change Healthcare is part of a wider outfit called Optum Solutions. They play a crucial role in assisting other companies in areas like payment, revenues, clinical decision support and more. Just thinking about the number of services disrupted by this unfortunate event, gives you a taste of just how massive and significant the impact of this breach might be.
So, that’s the tale so far. It goes to show how important cybersecurity is. Let’s hope our friends at Change Healthcare manage to bounce back from this pickle in no time!
by Parker Bytes
