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Australian Clinical Labs, a pathology company, has announced that it was the target of a cyber attack eight months ago.
Cybercriminals accessed the data of 223,000 people, and some posted to the dark web.
In a lengthy explanation to the stock market this morning, the company made known the situation just one day after learning of Medibank’s hacking crisis.
ACL said its subsidiary Medlab was breached, and the data of about 223,000 people, including staff and patients, was accessed.
The most concerning breaches included:
- Over 17,500 pathology records were compromised in the latest healthcare data breach.
- Out of the 28,286 credit card numbers and individuals’ names that were breached, 15,724 have already expired, and 3,375 had a CVV code attached.
- A total of 128,608 Medicare numbers (not including duplicates) were compromised, each with an individual’s name attached.
“As of now, we have no evidence to suggest that any of the information has been misused or that Medlab or ACL have received any demands,” the company said in a statement.
ACL will start contacting affected individuals on Thursday, and Medlab customers should therefore check their email and postal mail regularly in the next few weeks.
In addition, it has set up a crisis hotline for people to call who have confirmed they were impacted. The number is 1800 433 980.
ACL acquired Medlab Pathology in 2021, a business operating on behalf of NSW and Queensland.
The company said it took “immediate steps” to contain the breach and has since worked with cybersecurity experts and law enforcement. It also notified the Australian Cyber Security Centre within the Australian Signals Directorate.
“The security of personal information is of utmost importance to ACL, and we sincerely apologize for any concern or inconvenience this incident may cause,” ACL’s statement read.
This incident serves as a stark reminder to all companies to constantly review and update their cyber security measures to protect consumer data. It also highlights the need for individuals to be vigilant with their personal information online and monitor the potential misuse of sensitive data.
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