The database of UnitedHealthcare, a leading insurance and managed care company, has been breached by a group of Nigerian hackers, resulting in the theft of over six terabytes of confidential health records and private information belonging to 120 million Americans.
According to court filings seen by Peoples Gazette, a Nigerian press outlet, the breach has led to a lawsuit filed by affected Americans, saying their sensitive health data was compromised following a database breach that began on February 21, 2024.
The hackers carried out a series of coordinated cyberattacks to infiltrate UnitedHealthcare’s systems, stealing names, addresses, emails, and social security numbers of registered clients. These affected individuals are now seeking legal redress.
While the Russia-based hacking group BlackCat is believed to have orchestrated the attack, court documents indicate that most of the stolen files were downloaded by users in Nigeria, with additional downloads traced to Russia and Brazil.
“The data was quickly spread across five continents: North America, Asia, Europe, Africa, and South America. In the end, it was downloaded by 47 different parties,” the lawsuit states.
It further reveals that “the majority of downloads occurred in Nigeria and Russia,” highlighting the global reach of data breaches on the dark web.
Source: Peoples Gazette
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