Aussie healthcare provider in major data breach after ransomware attack

An Australian private healthcare organization has been hit by a large-scale ransomware attack.

National cybersecurity coordinator Michelle McGuinnes said in a statement Wednesday afternoon that she had been made aware of the incident against MediSecure, a private health information provider.

‘We are in the very early stages of our response and there are few details to share at this stage, but I will continue to provide updates as we progress, whilst working closely with the affected commercial organization to address the impact of the incident ,” said Mrs. McGuinness

The Australian Signals Directorate Cyber ​​Security Center and the Australian Federal Police are investigating the situation, which is believed to be in its early stages.

Sky News reported that the breach affected ‘a medium-sized healthcare provider’.

“Now we’re not talking about the public health system or the public hospitals, we’re talking about a provider within the health care system,” Kieran Gilbert said.

Home Secretary Clare O’Neil has summoned top officials from the intelligence and security services in response to the crisis incident.

“I have been informed about this incident in recent days and the government today convened a National Coordination Mechanism on this issue,” she wrote on X.

The data breach is believed to have affected a mid-sized healthcare provider (stock image)

National Cyber ​​Security Coordinator Michelle McGuinness (pictured) said limited details are available at this stage about the extent of the ransomware attack as security agencies respond to the data breach

In 2022, millions of Australians’ private data, including sensitive medical information, was breached when Medibank’s network was hacked.

Earlier this year, Australia imposed sanctions on Russian citizen Aleksandr Ermakov for his alleged role in that data breach.

More to come.