Health records targeted in hack attack

The online health records of Australians were targeted by hackers this year but no personal information was stolen.

The Australian Digital Health Agency, which runs the MyHealth digital records system, has told politicians there were two potential data breaches in the current financial year.

In one case, it brought in the Australian Cyber Security Centre along with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner to investigate a hacking attempt.

"Somebody tried to hack our system, so the external perimeter of our system," the agency's national health chief information officer Ronan O'Connor told a parliamentary committee hearing on Tuesday.

"I want to assure the committee that there was no access into the MyHealth record in any way whatsoever, no health information or personal sensitive information was accessed."

Mr O'Connor said the government hadn't been able to identify who was behind the hack.

The second data breach investigated turned out to be related to someone who was in fact receiving medical treatment at the facility involved.