Medibank Hack Gets More Gross As Hacker Leaks Sensitive Patient Details

The major hack of an Australian health insurer’s patient data, now tied to Russian cybercriminals, escalated in scope as it leaked more information identifying individuals on a dark web forum, the Washington Post reported.
The information leaked included patients who received abortions or treatment for mental health issues, alcoholism, and addiction recovery.
The head of the national police called it a crime with “malicious and far-reaching consequences,” which has “the potential to impact millions of Australians and damage a significant Australian business.”
Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw held Russia responsible for the hack. “Our intelligence points to a group of loosely affiliated cybercriminals who are likely responsible for past significant breaches in countries across the world.”
The insurer, Medibank, had said in a statement that the data included names, addresses, dates of birth, phone numbers, and email addresses.
CEO David Koczkar said the information’s release after it rejected a demand for ransom money was “an attack on the most vulnerable members of our community.”
Medibank acknowledged the hack on October 13.
The hacker accessed the personal information of 9.7 million customers and 480,000 health claims.
The hackers reportedly posted a $10 million ransom demand that had increased to $15 million.
Telecommunications company Optus was the victim of an attack in September, with the data of 10 million customers accessed illegally.
Uber Technologies, Inc UBER recently held the Lapsus$ group responsible for its recent hack. The breach forced Uber to shut down some internal systems temporarily.
Lapsus$ was held responsible for the hacks of Microsoft Corp MSFT, Samsung Electronics Co, Ltd SSNLF, Nvidia Corp NVDA, and Okta Inc OKTA.
Photo by S. Hermann & F. Richter from Pixabay

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