The personal data of 4 million customers has been compromised after an attack on Medibank's computer systems. The affected individuals are those who have had a self-funded medical termination in the past two years, and who were enrolled in one of Medibank's health insurance plans between 1 January 2016 and 31 December 2017.
Data theft is never a fun thing to experience, but this particular hack raises some serious privacy concerns. Not only did the attackers gain access to customer names, addresses, date of birth, gender details, and claims history - they were also able to decrypt some encrypted files that belonged to patients.
Medibank is urging anyone who may have been impacted by the breach to take action precautionary measures like changing their passwords and not sharing personal information online. They are also offering free credit monitoring for 12 months for all customers whose data was accessed in violation of their privacy rights.
This incident serves as a stark reminder that even highly secure institutions cannot guarantee our safety from cyberattacks waged through unauthorized access to sensitive data or vulnerable software vulnerabilities. As long as we keep our personal information safe by staying informed about current threats (and updating our security precautions accordingly), we should be okay."
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