Medicare warns hackers it will not pay ransom demand for data theft
Australia’s biggest health insurer Medibank has revealed new details surrounding a cyber attack but warned hackers they “will not pay any ransom demand for this data theft”.
News.com.au reports Medibank has confirmed the hackers accessed health claims data for around 160,000 Medibank customers and around 300,000 ahm customers.
In recent weeks, a ransom note emerged threatening to release or sell to third parties personal information of persons of high media interest including diagnoses of sensitive medical conditions or addictions and credit card information.
The ransom note claimed to have access to sensitive medical information about “politicians, actors, bloggers, LGBT activists, drug addicted people, etc.”
The website said Medibank confirmed in today’s statement that the stolen data included information about where customers received certain medical services, and codes associated with diagnosis and procedures administered.
In a statement to the ASX, Medibank chief executive David Koczkar apologised to the company’s 3.8 million members but said that there was no guarantee that paying the ransom would stop the hackers from using the stolen data and sensitive medical information.
“We take seriously our responsibility to safeguard our customers. The weaponisation of their private information in an effort to extort payment is malicious, and it is an attack on the most vulnerable members of our community,” Mr Koczkar said.
Read the full report here.
