One of Wisconsin’s largest health insurance companies says hackers who launched a botched ransomware attack were still able to steal tons of sensitive information on more than half a million people.
In the reviews on his website and with regulatorsGroup Health Cooperative of South Central Wisconsin (GHC-SCW) said its IT team discovered hackers breaking into their systems early on the morning of January 25.
The hackers – who GHC-SCW did not identify – attempted to encrypt the company’s systems, but failed.
With help from the FBI and an external cybersecurity firm, the company was able to restore its systems.
But on February 9, investigators realized that the hackers had copied some data from GHC-SCW before attempting to launch the ransomware attack.
The copied systems included names, addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth and death, Social Security numbers, health plan membership numbers, Medicare or Medicaid numbers, and health information more protected.
“Our discovery was confirmed when the attacker, a foreign ransomware gang, contacted GHC-SCW to claim responsibility for the attack and the theft of our data,” the company said.
“We have no indication that the information was used or disclosed further.” Please be assured that we have taken additional steps to help mitigate any harm that may result from this incident by working with the FBI and the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), notifying all affected individuals, all necessary state and federal agencies, and some consumer reporting agencies.
In total, 533,809 people saw information copied by the group – which has not publicly claimed responsibility for the attack.
In addition to reporting the incident to state regulators, GHC-SCW also submitted a notification to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
GHC-SCW has been in existence for nearly 50 years and operates as a member-owned, not-for-profit health plan, providing health care to 79,000 members and their dependents in south-central Wisconsin.
The disclosure comes as several healthcare companies, hospitals and insurance companies continue to report ransomware attacks and breaches exposing the data of millions of people.
Changing healthcare – whose shutdown following a ransomware attack brought down much of the US healthcare system – told Recorded Future News that it was investigating a ransomware actor’s attempts to sell stolen data of the society.
Meanwhile, a major cancer hospital in California said Last week, hackers were able to access the information of more than 820,000 people in a cyberattack.
The hospital said it discovered the incident on March 25.
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