Mr. McKnight takes over the role from Steven Martin, who is moving into the role of chief restoration officer, according to a post on his LinkedIn page.
Mr. McKnight’s previous experience includes serving as executive vice president and chief security office of SAP, executive vice president and CISO of Thomson Reuters and global chief information and product security officer of GE, according to his LinkedIn page.
“I look forward to partnering with [UnitedHealth’s Senior Counsel and executive vice president of governance, compliance and security] Rupert Bondy and collaborating with an incredible team as we continue to advance our cybersecurity strategy and safeguarding critical information in support of helping people live healthier lives and improving the health system for everyone,” Mr. McKnight said in his post.
Mr. Martin said in his post that he will be continuing to work with industry partners across the healthcare/technology ecosystem “to ensure we’re building trust and transparency in our cybersecurity posture.”
A UnitedHealth Group spokesperson told Becker’s in statement, “we are excited that Tim McKnight, a leading expert in cyber security, has agreed to join our team, and equally excited that the addition of Tim will enable Steven Martin to focus on a new role as chief restoration officer.”
UnitedHealth Group has been dealing with the effects of a Feb. 21 ransomware attack on its Change Healthcare subsidiary. The cyberattack crippled financial operations for hospitals, insurers, pharmacies and medical groups nationwide. In July, the organization began sending out breach notification letters to individuals affected by the attack. It said Oct. 24 that the attack affected 100 million people.
UnitedHealth said that it believes the hacking group ALPHV, also known as BlackCat, was responsible for the incident.
