Medibank customers urged to be vigilant amid 'distressing' data threat
Medibank is urging customers affected by its breach to be vigilant after a ransomware group threatened to release stolen data online.
Australia's leading private health fund called the development "distressing" in a statement released today.
"Customers should remain vigilant. We knew the publication of data online by the criminal could be a possibility, but the criminal's threat is still a distressing development for our customer," Medibank CEO David Koczkar said.
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Two law firms have begun a class action investigation against Medibank. Photograph by Chris Hopkins
"We unreservedly apologise to our customers.
"We take seriously our responsibility to safeguard our customers and support them.
"The weaponisation of their private information is malicious, and it is an attack on the most vulnerable members of our community."
Legal firms 'join forces' for class action
It comes as two legal firms call for people affected by the data breach to join a class action lawsuit.
Bannister Law Class Actions and Centennial Lawyers said in a press release they had "joined forces" to investigate the hack.
Medibank confirmed yesterday that 9.7 million customers, including ahm and international customers, had their data accessed.
This included names, dates of birth, driver's licence numbers and addresses.
Almost half a million people also had their medical records accessed.
Medibank has ruled out paying any ransom, after which the purported hackers this morning posted a threat to release all the data within 24 hours.
"We believe the data breach is a betrayal of Medibank Private's customers and a breach of the Privacy Act," the law firms said in a statement.
"Medibank has a duty to keep this kind of information confidential."
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The two firms will investigate whether Medibank breached their privacy policy and the terms of their contract with customers.
The lawyers will also assess whether damages should be paid as a result of the breaches.
Affected customers can register with the class action online.
EXPLAINED: What to do if you have been hacked
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