UnitedHealth (NYSE:UNH) Slips as Cyber Attacks Continue

For those on prescription meds, the notion that they can’t get access to them is disturbing. In some cases, it’s downright life-threatening. That’s likely part of why UnitedHealth (NYSE:UNH), a company that focuses on healthcare coverage, is down fractionally in Tuesday afternoon’s trading, thanks to an ongoing cyber attack that’s rendering pharmacies at a standstill.

UnitedHealth’s Change Healthcare system has been down for seven days thanks to a “cyber threat actor” who infiltrated the system last week. Thankfully, most pharmacies have some kind of workaround in place to ensure that service can continue.

When UnitedHealth discovered the threat, it moved quickly, isolating several key systems and disconnecting them from the broader network. Meanwhile, the “threat actor” in question appears to pose a much bigger problem than expected: it’s a “suspected nation-state-associated” threat, which suggests a potential act of war afoot. However, nothing has been proven on that front.

Pharmacy Backlogs Are Increasing

Reports suggest that the attack was connected to the ALPHV/BlackCat Ransomware gang, which has previously been linked to Russia. The breach is also being investigated by Mandiant, an element of Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL), though it hasn’t released any comments about the attack. Though workarounds are in place, they’re not proving as robust as some would hope; some pharmacies have seen their backlog of unprocessed prescriptions increase to around six days.

What Is the Future Price of UNH Stock?

Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Strong Buy consensus rating on UNH stock based on 15 Buys and one Sell assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After an 11.36% rally in its share price over the past year, the average UNH price target of $599.57 per share implies 14.79% upside potential.

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