Australian Health Insurer Medibank lost customer data in ransomware attack
Medibank, an Australian private health insurance provider was hit by a ransomware attack in October. The size of the data breach is believed to be 9.7 million customers details (present and former). The data breach accounts to 5.1 million company’s customers, 2.8 million ahm customers and 1.8 million overseas customers. The hacker group got access to the customer’s names, address, contact numbers along with the email addresses.
The cyber-attack occurred on 13th October when the company noticed unusual behavior on its internal systems. Later, Medibank released an official statement that there is “no evidence that customer data has been accessed” during the attack.
Medibank started its operations in 1976 as not for profit organization however in the year 2009, it registered as a for profit organization. As per the latest statistics, it now caters to the insurance needs of around 3.7 million customers and is one of the leading health insurance providers in Australia.
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The insurance company has responded to the claims of the attack and stated that an internal enquiry is being conducted to fathom the data loss. Besides this, Medibank has received a ransom note in return of the leaked data. According to The Sydney Morning Herald, the hacker group is threatening to sell 200GB of the sensitive data if their demands are not fulfilled. The group has also threatened to expose the data of Medibank’s 1k well known and reputed customers such as actors, politicians, and bloggers.
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In response to the threats from the group and ransom demand, Medibank has refused to pay the quoted price. The company believes that there is mere chance that the group would return all the leaked data even if their demands are fulfilled. Medibank has apologized to its customers and comforted that it is aimed to strengthen policies to ensure privacy of its customers.
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Medibank as also provided helpline number (for ahm customers 134246 and for Medibank customers 132331) and asked its customers to contact them for any mental support or wellbeing.
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