FILE - A sign stands on UnitedHealth Group Inc.'s campus in Minnetonka, Minn., on Oct. 16, 2012. UnitedHealth Group turned in a better-than-expected fourth quarter even as medical costs soared 16% for the health care giant. Shares of UnitedHealth and other major health care and insurance providers slipped in early trading Friday, Jan. 12, 2024 after the company announced results. (AP Photo/Jim Mone, File)
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State Department offers bounty for hack information
The State Department said it would provide a $10 million reward for information about the Blackcat ransomware group that hacked UnitedHealthcare in February.
The agency is offering the reward for information that would lead to the identification or location of anyone who engaged in the “malicious cyber activities” against U.S. infrastructure on behalf of a foreign government, our colleague Lauren Irwin reported.
“The ALPHV BlackCat ransomware-as-a-service group compromised computer networks of critical infrastructure sectors in the United States and worldwide, deploying ransomware on the targeted systems, disabling security features within the victim’s network, stealing sensitive confidential information, demanding payment to restore access, and threatening to publicize the stolen data if victims do not pay a ransom,” the State Department said in a statement.
The group ALPHV, or Blackcat, was first deployed in 2021. Its members have “developed and maintained” ransomware and recruited affiliates to deploy it, according to the State Department.
Change Healthcare, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group that manages payment systems for most of the hospitals in the U.S., was hit by a cyberattack on Feb. 21. Many patients had to pay out-of-pocket for medicines and health care services due to the effects of the attack.
As of mid-March, the health care giant said that it was testing software it must restore from the attack but has no date yet for finishing the recovery. The company restored nearly all its systems for processing prescriptions, bills and payments, The Associated Press reported.
Several U.S. business leaders met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday, when he made his case calling for closer ties between the two largest economies in the world. The all-male meeting was held in Beijing and came as the U.S. and China have had a steady improvement in relations in the past several years. Xi expressed that the relationship is mutually beneficial, despite U.S. pushback on the influence of the Chinese …
Law enforcement officials are taking steps to put up guardrails ahead of the 2024 elections, where long-festering misinformation from 2020 is expected to heighten tensions — especially in the battleground state of Arizona. Election workers and public officials in Arizona have been plagued by incessant threats and harassment, while candidates with a penchant for conspiracy theories have made the state a hotbed of misinformation. …
A California police department said it would no longer use Lego heads to obscure suspects’ faces in social media posts, after the Lego Group requested the department cease the practice, citing intellectual property concerns. “The Lego Group reached out to me on March 19th and respectfully asked us to refrain from using their intellectual property in our social media content,” Murrieta Police Department Lt. Jeremy Durrant said …
News we’ve flagged from the intersection of tech and other topics:
Amazon invests another $2.75B in Anthropic
Amazon has invested another $2.75 billion in Anthropic on top of its initial $1.25 billion investment in the artificial intelligence (AI) startup, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Princess Kate video spurs new AI conspiracies
A video of Kate, the Princess of Wales, revealing her cancer diagnosis has spurred new conspiracy theories that it was generated with AI, despite no evidence of manipulation, The Washington Post reported.
In Other News
Branch out with other reads on The Hill:
Trump Media, Reddit surge despite questionable profit prospects, taking on the ‘meme stock’ mantle
NEW YORK (AP) — Reddit and Trump Media are the first notable social media companies to begin trading publicly in the last five years. They’re also, thanks to the rabid reception among investors coupled with the companies’ fuzzy profit outlooks, the latest meme stocks. Meme stocks are …
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas is poised to require pornography websites to verify visitors are adults, a move that would follow Texas and a handful of other states despite concerns about privacy and how broadly the law could be applied. The Republican-controlled Kansas Legislature passed the proposal …
Former President Trump called Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign “great for MAGA” in a post early Wednesday. … Read more
The chair of the Libertarian National Committee said its members are “confused” by Robert F. Kennedy’s Jr. vice presidential pick, which he announced … Read more
