UnitedHealth confirms it paid ransomware gang to stop data leak

UnitedHealth Group confirmed it paid a ransom after a late-February ransomware attack on Optum/Change Healthcare that disrupted payment processing and other healthcare services; threat actors including BlackCat/ALPHV affiliates and RansomHub claim to have stolen large amounts of patient and corporate data (allegedly up to 6TB). The incident caused significant financial impact (reported $872M), visible blockchain ransom payments, ongoing extortion and partial data leaks, and prompted a U.S. government investigation and remedial actions such as notifications and credit monitoring for affected individuals.