MediSecure, a prominent Australian prescription delivery service provider, has disclosed a significant data breach that compromised the personal and health information of approximately 12.9 million individuals. The breach occurred during a ransomware attack in April, leading to the theft of sensitive data.

In response to the attack, MediSecure promptly shut down its website and phone lines to contain the breach, officially announcing the incident on May 16. The Australian National Cyber Security Coordinator (NCSC), who assisted MediSecure in mitigating the breach, described it as a "large-scale ransomware data breach."

We take a look at what was stolen and what measures need to be taken post the Medisecure data breach. catphishing

During the investigation, MediSecure discovered that the attackers had stolen 6.5TB of data. The company has since restored the data from a server backup.

A statement from MediSecure apprised the media of the development:

The MediSecure data breach confirmed that approximately 12.9 million Australians who used their prescription delivery service between March 2019 and November 2023. Due to the complexity of the data set, the company has been unable to identify specific impacted individuals despite extensive efforts.

The compromised personal and health information includes names, dates of birth, addresses, contact details (phone numbers and email addresses), individual healthcare identifiers (IHI), Medicare card numbers, prescription details (medication name, strength, quantity, and reason for prescription), and instructions. Additionally, Pensioner Concession, Commonwealth Seniors, Healthcare Concession, and Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) (Gold, White, Orange) card numbers were also exposed.

The Australian National Cyber Security Coordinator has advised individuals to be cautious of scams related to the MediSecure data breach. 

"If contacted by someone claiming to be a medical or other service provider, including financial service provider, seeking personal, payment, or banking information, you should hang up and call back on a phone number you have sourced independently," the NCSC added.

Until late 2023, MediSecure was one of two Australian prescription delivery services, before being replaced by Fred IT Group's eRx Script Exchange (eRx).

Recently, top telecom services provider AT&T was also hit by a cyber attack which resulted in a massive data leak.