Australia's Medibank says data of 4 mln customers accessed by hacker

[sl8]

Last edited Wed Oct 26, 2022, 06:20 AM - Edit history (1)

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/australian-health-insurer-medibank-says-all-customers-personal-data-compromised-2022-10-25/

2 minute read
October 26, 2022 3:26 AM EDT Last Updated 2 hours ago

Australia's Medibank says data of 4 mln customers accessed by hacker

By Shashwat Awasthi and Lewis Jackson

Oct 26 (Reuters) - Medibank Private Ltd (MPL.AX), Australia's biggest health insurer, said on Wednesday a cyber hack had compromised data of all of its of its nearly 4 million customers, as it warned of a A$25 million to A$35 million ($16 million to $22.3 million) hit to first-half earnings.

It said on Wednesday that all personal and significant amounts of health claims data of all its customers were compromised in the breach reported this month, a day after it warned the number of customers affected would grow.

Shares in the company fell more than 14%, its biggest one-day slide since listing in 2014.

Medibank, which covers one-sixth of Australians, said the estimated cost did not include further potential remediation or regulatory expenses.

[...]

Reporting by Shashwat Awasthi and Lewis Jackson. Writing by Alasdair Pal Editing by Gerry Doyle, Shinjini Ganguli and Sam Holmes

[Skittles]

1. link?

thanks

[sl8]

2. Oops.

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/australian-health-insurer-medibank-says-all-customers-personal-data-compromised-2022-10-25/

[Skittles]

3. thank you

that is a big breach indeed

[Eugene]

4. Abortion data from Medibank hack posted on dark web as Clare O'Neil pledges to pursue 'scumbags'

Abortion data from Medibank hack posted on dark web as Clare O’Neil pledges to pursue ‘scumbags’ (The Guardian)

On Thursday morning, on a dark web blog linked to the REvil Russian ransomware group, the attacker posted a file labelled “abortions” alongside claims they had sought US$10m from Medibank to prevent the leak of the data.

The data in the file is understood to include procedures claimed by a policyholder related to the termination of pregnancy, including non-viable pregnancy, ectopic pregnancy, molar pregnancy, miscarriages, and readmission for complications.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/nov/10/abortion-data-from-medibank-hack-posted-on-dark-web-as-clare-oneil-pledges-to-pursue-scumbags

[MedRxx]

5. The Shovel (what the Onion once was) had this to say about this Truly Awful Breach

The group behind the Medibank data hack say they are ‘frustrated’ and are ‘considering switching providers’, after their ransom claim was rejected on a technicality.

The group finally received a letter today, weeks after they initially lodged their claim, outlining the reasons for the decision. The letter read:...

[link:https://www.theshovel.com.au/2022/11/09/medibank-ransom-claim-denied/|]

In 'real' news, i see that there are several lawsuits against Medibank.

The ability of hackers to access healthcare data is only one of the many problems with Electronic Medical Records.

As far back as 2016 these issues were recognized, and have only become worse...

One of the most significant changes in modern healthcare delivery has been the evolution of the paper record to the electronic health record (EHR). In this paper we argue that the primary change has been a shift in the focus of documentation from monitoring individual patient progress to recording data pertinent to Institutional Priorities

[link:https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26603947/|]

[marble falls]

6. Very nice post! Hadn't heard of the shovel before.