Senators grill UnitedHealth CEO on cyber-attack

WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) – Three months after a cyber-attack on Change Healthcare exposed patients’ personal health records, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) criticized UnitedHealth for failing to have two levels of security on all servers.

“There was a cyber security failure,” Wyden said.

UnitedHealth CEO Andrew Witty apologized for the cyber-attack on their subsidiary and assured lawmakers they are working to address this.

“We will not rest, I will not rest, until we fix this,” Witty said.

The hack impacted millions of Americans as UnitedHealth Group shut down Change Healthcare’s systems, cutting off access to hospitals, healthcare providers, and pharmacies.

“All of our core systems are up and fully functional,” Witty said.

But Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) says providers in her home state are struggling, as they are still waiting to be paid.

“It is like you all can’t figure this out,” Blackburn said.

“UnitedHealth is a monopoly on steroids,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.)

Warren accused the company of trying to take advantage of the data breach.

“To snap up doctors practices that have been driven to the edge of bankruptcy by that same data breach,” Warren said.

Despite the multiple attacks, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) wanted to remind everyone that UnitedHealth did not ask to be hacked.

“UnitedHealth, you were the victim of a crime, correct?” Johnson asked.

“That is correct sir,” Witty replied.

The company paid a more than $20 million ransom to the attackers.

The FBI is currently investigating.

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