‘Unacceptable’ delay slammed after cyberattack on Australian GP clinic network exposes patient details
Updated . First published at
Personal health records are part of the data an Australian healthcare provider says has been stolen in a major cyberattack, leaving one patient feeling “violated” and drawing criticism for a three-week delay in warning those affected.
Partnered Health on Wednesday night revealed 21 clinics across five states and territories had been affected by the breach on June 23, blaming a “malicious actor”.
Partnered Health, established in 2013, has 60 clinics across Australia. Partnered Health
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Partnered Health, which dubs itself “Australia’s most trusted provider of primary healthcare and corporate health and wellbeing”, said it engaged “specialist cyber experts” and “took immediate steps to contain the incident and assess whether personal information was accessed”.
“Our investigations to date have confirmed that personal information (including health information) was taken from some of the clinics in our network,” the company said.
“We are continuing to investigate the extent to which personal information has been impacted by this incident and are communicating with patients from impacted clinics.”
But technology expert Trevor Long said the company waited far too long to sound the alarm.
“Twenty-two days have passed since this breach occurred,” he told 9News Late on Wednesday.
“That’s unacceptable from a patient’s point of view, and should be unacceptable from a regulatory point of view. So that’s something to review here in the future.
Partnered Health said 21 clinics across five states and territories had been affected by the breach on June 23, blaming a “malicious actor”. 9News/file
“And I think that any company involved in a cyberattack should say what they know when they know it from the get go.”
One of those patients, who asked to remain anonymous, told 9News the disturbing invasion of privacy could have serious consequences for those involved, and it would be hard to trust any medical professional going forward.
“This was where I was previously seeking psychological support and to know all those details are now available somewhere on the dark web is extremely unsettling,” they said.
“I have reached out to the medical centre but have not received a response as of yet and have no idea how to deal with this.
“I feel completely violated and there is nowhere I can go for support medically or psychologically without being at risk again to have any information I share being made public without my consent.”
The cyberattack hit centres in NSW, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia and the ACT.
The company said the stolen information could include name, date of birth, address and contact details; Medicare and other healthcare card numbers; and personal medical information and treatment details.
The third category could include consultation notes, referral letters, and pathology or diagnostic results.
“As a health services provider, we know our patients and our people trust us with personal and medical information and we sincerely apologise for any concern and inconvenience this may cause them,” it said, in a statement on its website.
“Partnered Health has reported the incident to the Australian Cyber Security Centre, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner and law enforcement, and we are continuing to work with the authorities.”
At least one patient from one of the affected centres had not been notified about the breach on Wednesday night.
Partnered Health said it was still investigating the hack and warned its clients to be on alert for scams.
The potentially affected practices are:
- Blackburn Road Medical Centre
- Broadway General Practice
- Bundall Medical Centre
- Cardiff Medical Centre & Skin Cancer Clinic
- Castle Hill Family Doctors
- Champion Drive Medical Centre
- Chancellor Park Family Medical Practice
- Dromana Family Doctors
- Dural Medical Centre
- Joondalup City Medical Group
- Kealba Family Practice
- Mornington Family Doctors
- Noosaville Seven Day Medical Centre
- North Canberra Family Practice
- Park Beach Family Practice
- Park Orchards Family Practice
- Rockingham City Family Practice
- Sans Souci Medical Practice
- Templestowe District Medical Centre
- Wentworth Avenue Family Practice
- Wyong Family Practice
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