UnitedHealth Group is still in the recovery process after the February 2024 ransomware attack on its Change Healthcare subsidiary, a provider of healthcare billing and data systems and a key node in the U.S. healthcare system. The hack disrupted the processing of claims and payments to doctors and healthcare facilities nationwide for a month and took a particularly harsh toll on community health centers. Cybercrime experts estimated the hacker group earned $22 million in ransom payments, and UnitedHealth Group CEO Andrew Witty confirmed that figure during a May Congressional hearing.
That’s a big ransom payout, for sure, but consider these 2 additional realities:
- As many as 1 in 3 Americans may have had their data breached in this attack, stoking fears of widespread fraud and identity theft. (That’s a lot of people angry, worried, and vulnerable because of UH.)
- UH expects total breach costs to reach $2.3 to $2.45 billion.
So, how did UH find itself responsible and accountable for this enormous breach? By their own admission, the issue was preventable. UH was hosting and maintaining user payment information on a CHC server that lacked multi-factor authentication protection, allowing hackers to enter the system using only basic stolen login details.
The SMB equivalency
As an SMB, you are not at risk for a $2.5B loss. But, your stats don't look good either:
- According to the 2024 AFP Payments Fraud and Control Survey, the most common cause of payments fraud was an external source or individual, such as forged check, stolen card, or corporate synthetic identity fraud.
- The same survey found that 65% percent of respondents reported payments fraud at their companies was the result of actions by an outside individual or entity.
- The generally accepted average SMB data breach cost in the U.S. is about $220,000 per incident.
And if you are accepting and processing digital payments, which the market is certainly pushing you to do, you may be increasing your cyber risks exponentially. That's a hard pill to swallow when you look at what you stand to gain. With support for virtual cards, ACH, enhanced ACH, and digital wallets, your buyers can make payments their preferred way—and you can accept these various methods without disruption to your workflow or business rules. This speeds and stabilizes your cash flow. A final plus: JP Morgan estimates that businesses adopting digital payments experience a 30% reduction in payment processing costs. But by transacting in and storing customer information, you become liable for its safety and protection.
A win-win-win
Which is where a payment platform comes in. Payment platforms offer technology-driven digital payment solutions and integrate with multiple business management systems. That’s great news in and of itself. But, it's the fraud ownership paradigm shift that delivers you the greatest benefit. Offload vendor payment information and updates to a third-party platform and you offload the payment fraud management and liability, too. It’s that simple.
Leave rigorous security and regulatory compliance to a third-party expert who can offer your customers a level of payment choice that you can’t replicate on your own? That seems like a no-brainer already. But when you factor in this paradigm shift, a payment portal becomes a business imperative.
Benefits of the Quadient AR payment portal
Enter the Quadient Accounts Receivable payment portal, where your buyers can also manage disputes, view and download their entire invoice history, and make payments using a variety of methods. Moreover, the portal delivers what we at Quadient call "ruthless security," providing PCI-DSS protection and peace of mind for customers and AR teams alike. Additional features include:
- Multicurrency options: Invoice and collect payments from buyers in their local currency.
- Payment scheduling and autopay: Easily schedule payments for customers or enroll them in autopay in just a few clicks.
- Decreased delayed payments: Offer the kind of flexibility that reduces bad debt by as much as 25%.
Reduce your risk while increasing your flexibility
See the fraud ownership paradigm shift for yourself. Request a Quadient AR payment portal demo today.
Jill brings over 15 years of industry experience in financial services marketing. She is a passionate and motivated digital marketing professional with extensive experience in multi-channel marketing with a proven record of driving results for growing and established financial services brands like American Express, Billtrust, Heartland Payments Systems, and CAN Capital. Jill is experienced in planning and executing integrated marketing campaigns across channels: web, content, paid media, email, influencer marketing, social, SEO, and events.