Medibank Private Ltd (ASX: MPL) shares won't be going anywhere today.
This afternoon, Australia's largest private health insurance provider released another update on its cyber incident.
Unfortunately, things have continued to get worse for Medibank and it has requested that it shares remain halted until the matter is resolved.
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What's going on?
As readers may be aware, last week Medibank revealed that it had detected unusual activity on its network. At the time it didn't believe that customer data had been taken from its systems.
However, last night the company advised that it had received messages from a group claiming to have removed customer data and wanting to negotiate a ransom for it.
This afternoon, Medibank revealed that this group has claimed to have taken 200GB of customer data from its systems.
As proof, the group has provided a sample of the data to Medibank. That data includes names, addresses, dates of birth, Medicare numbers, policy numbers, phone numbers, and some claims data. The latter includes the location of where a customer received medical services, and codes relating to their diagnosis and procedures.
Other data that the group claims to have taken includes data related to credit card security. Though, this has not been confirmed by its investigations.
However, given that Medibank's team (worryingly) couldn't even tell that 200GB of data had been taken from its systems last week, it may be prudent to assume that what the group is saying is accurate about credit card data.
Given the nature of the information that has been taken, Medibank advised that it is in discussions with government stakeholders about what it can do to assist its customers in safeguarding their identities and health information.
Medibank's CEO, David Koczkar, added:
I unreservedly apologise for this crime which has been perpetrated against our customers, our people, and the broader community. I know that many will be disappointed with Medibank and I acknowledge that disappointment.
This cybercrime is now the subject of an investigation by the Australian Federal Police. We will learn from this incident and will share our learnings with others. Medibank will remain open and transparent and will continue to provide comprehensive updates as often as we can and need to.
