Medibank, an Australian health insurer, said criminals accessed personal data of about 9.7 million current and former customers in an October 2022 ransomware attack. Medibank refused to pay the ransom. The Australian Federal Police said the people responsible were believed to be in Russia.
What happened in the Medibank breach?
Australian-based insurance firm Medibank has confirmed that they were exposed to a security breach in which criminals gained unauthorized access to the data of 9.7 million current and former customers. The AFP did not name a group. It said its intelligence pointed to a group of loosely affiliated cyber criminals.
What data was taken from Medibank customers?
The data accessed in this Ransomware attack includes personal information such as name, date of birth, address, phone number, and email address. In addition, the accessed data also includes Medicare numbers of ahm customers, passport numbers, and visa details of international student customers. After the data breach, the Medibank security team announced that it found Ransomware on its systems in October 2022, and the affected systems were isolated. It is known that the attackers threatened Medibank with leaking the data if the ransom payment was not made, but Medibank refused to pay the ransom.
How can organizations avoid similar ransomware attacks?
Every day, many institutions and organizations, regardless of large or small scale, are targeted by Ransomware attacks. In this context, it is recommended to consider the following suggestions in order not to be the target of similar attacks;
- Emails, Attachments, Files/Links From Suspicious/Unknown Parties Should Not Be Relied on.
- File, Software, and Program Downloads Must Be Performed From Legitimate And Official Sources.
- Current and Comprehensive Security Solutions should be used.
- System And Applications Should Be Keep At The Latest Version.
Our incident page on the Medibank ransomware attack of 2022 adds the later attribution statements by the US Treasury and the Australian Government.