The cyber attack on the IT service provider Bitmarck at the end of April is probably not that easy to work through. Furthermore, many company health insurance companies can only be reached to a very limited extent - sometimes only under emergency numbers. Most online services, customer apps or access to the electronic patient file are also partially disrupted.
For many IT managers of health insurance companies, company health insurance companies or associations, there is currently a drama: many customer services that the health insurance companies offer to the insured are still not available or usable. The background is the cyber attack on the IT service provider Bitmarck at the end of April this year, which is far from having all systems or entire data centers online again. The only indication of the disorders is only on the websites of the health insurance companies. However, many older insured persons are left out.
BKKs disrupted: Bosch, Linde, Bahn, Siemens
🔎 This kind of error messages from many BKKs will probably be there for a long time to come (Image: BKK Voralb).
The worst thing about the attack by the IT service provider Bitmarck: E-mail communication has been paralyzed at almost all affiliated health insurance companies. For many, the telephone system is also included. Most health insurance companies refer to emergency numbers on their websites. However, many providers inform that it is currently difficult to help, since access to the systems is very limited. There is often a note that claims for benefits cannot be processed.
Even if the provider of the ePA - electronic patient file has no system problems, the health insurance companies still cannot access the ePA, as this is controlled via Bitmarck. The health insurance companies can also not say when their services, such as the otherwise well-functioning apps for the insured, will work again. This will give many of the approximately 25 million insured people a headache. Even the BKK umbrella organization, the political lobby of 66 company health insurance companies and four state associations with nine million insured persons, can currently not provide any further information than what is already known about the disruption.
Long list of health insurance companies with failures
Anyone who currently visits the websites of the health insurance companies will almost always find the same text: "Because of the cyber attack on the IT service provider Bitmarck, we (the health insurance companies) can only be reached to a limited extent and the systems are not working." The list of services disrupted by the IT service provider Bitmarck is long. Here is a small excerpt
- Railway BKK
- BKK lime tree
- Bosch BKK
- Siemens BKK (SBK)
- Audi BKK
- Salus BKK
- BKK Deutsche Bank
- BKK VDN
- BKK Faber Castell
- WMF BKK
- IKK Southwest
- BKK preliminary album
- BKK umbrella organization
The IT service provider Bitmarck provides over 80 health insurance companies and associations with IT services. On its website, Bitmarck has not yet announced a period of time by when the problems should be fixed. At the moment it is also not clear which hacker group attacked the Bitmarck company.
More at Bitmarck.de