Hackers compromised Medibank customers’ data

Australia’s biggest health insurer, Medibank Private Ltd, revealed that a cyber hack had compromised data of all of its nearly four million customers. The breach was reported earlier this month.

The company stated that all personal and significant amounts of health claims data of all its customers were compromised in the breach. The personal information hacked includes name, address, date of birth, some Medicare card numbers and gender. The health information includes the claim codes made by customers.

Chief Executive David Koczkar said, “Our investigation has now established that this criminal has accessed all our private health insurance customers’ personal data and significant amounts of their health claims data. I apologise unreservedly to our customers. This is a terrible crime – this is a crime designed to cause maximum harm to the most vulnerable members of our community.”

Medibank still cannot say definitively how many or which customers are affected beyond the 1,000 records provided to the insurer by the hacker in the past two weeks. It is through this communication with the hacker that Medibank has been able to determine the extent of the breach so far.