CHARLOTTE, N.C. — UnitedHealthcare insurance customers in North Carolina will want to double check their mailboxes to see if their data was affected by a breach that happened earlier this year.
The provider said it identified suspicious activity on the UHC mobile application on Feb. 22, 2023 that may have led to the disclosure of member information. About two weeks later, UnitedHealthcare determined certain parts of customer information were likely impacted. However, the provider stressed Social Security Numbers and driver's license numbers were not involved.
The information affected includes:
- Members' first and last names
- Health insurance member ID numbers
- Dates of birth
- Addressess
- Date(s) of service
- Provider name(s)
- Claim information
- Group name and number
UnitedHealthcare said letters were sent to affected customers starting April 28, 2023.
The company said it locked the portal account for members and required password resets. UnitedHealthcare believes the UHC app was the target of a credential-stuffing attack. CloudFlare, an IT service company, says such attacks involve an attacker using login information from other breached sites to try and get into another online service. For example, if your username and password were breached from a shopping website, an attacker could try to use that same information to try to access a bank account in the hopes of accessing sensitive information.
However, CloudFlare notes that credential-stuffing attacks have a low success rate; statistically speaking, these attacks only have about a one in 1,000 chance of working.
UnitedHealthcare says it has no evidence that member login credentials used during the attack were taken from the company. However, the provider is offering members two years of free LifeLock Identity Theft Protection Services as a precaution.
Customers with more questions can call 800-669-1812 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern time.