In Australia, hackers obtained digital medical data from around 1,000 celebrities from a private health insurance company. If the insurance company does not pay, the data would be published. It is the second large-scale cyber attack in Australia in a short period of time.
After a large-scale hacker attack in Australia, the perpetrator or perpetrators threaten to publish the medical data of around 1,000 celebrities. According to Medibank, one of the country’s largest private health insurance companies, 200 gigabytes of data were stolen during the attack. This data should be published if Medibank does not pay the required amount.
“The criminal provided a sample of 100 files,” Medibank said in a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange. The stolen data includes information about the places where the patients received medical care and codes used for diagnoses and therapies stand. Because of the hacker attack, trading in Medibank shares was suspended.
Last month, a hacker attack on the Australian telecommunications group Optus became known. Personal data was stolen from around nine million Australians, almost a third of the population. The hacking of Australia’s second largest mobile operator was one of the largest cyberattacks in the country’s history.
Home Secretary Clare O’Neill told ABC radio that Australia’s cybersecurity can no longer be taken for granted. Rather, the hacker attacks on Optus and Medibank are “a clear wake-up call for the country.” “This is the new world we’re living in. We’re going to be under constant cyber attack, basically from now on,” added O’Neill.