Last month, large national healthcare technology company, Change Healthcare, announced that it was impacted by a cyberattack. Change Healthcare is a major part of the United States healthcare system and acts as a middleman between providers and insurance companies. This cyber incident has had a crippling impact on the healthcare system, leaving providers unable to process insurance claims and payments and send prescriptions electronically. As a result, many physicians have been forced to cancel appointments and take out loans to stay afloat while the incident is resolved.
Constangy partner and Cyber Team chair Sean Hoar recently spoke to The Oregonian on the attack and its sweeping immediate and long-term impact. “When insurance eligibility and coverage cannot be determined, and payment for healthcare services cannot be made, the provision of healthcare services grinds to a halt,” he says. “Beyond the real-time disruption in healthcare services, the attackers claimed to have stolen eight terabytes of data, including millions of sensitive patient records.”
While the immediate impact of this cyberattack is being felt, the lasting effects are still unknown.
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Sean is a seasoned attorney with nearly 25 years of experience in data privacy and information security matters. As chair of the Constangy Cyber Team and head of the firm's Portland office, he leads the charge in navigating complex cyber issues for clients. Sean has a distinguished background in the cybersecurity space, including a tenure as a cyber attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice, and has been recognized for his outstanding contributions to the field. He is highly regarded as one of the best and brightest data breach response lawyers in the United States, leveraging his credentials as a Global Information Security Professional (GISP), a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), and a Certified Information Privacy Professional for United States law (CIPP/US) to effectively manage and mitigate cyber risks for corporate clients nationwide.