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Medibank Private Ltd (MPL.AX), Australia’s largest health insurer, announced on Wednesday that a cyber hack had exposed the data of all 4 million customers.
Due to the attack, the company expects to see first-half earnings drop from A$25 million to A$35 million ($16 million to $22.3 million).
On Wednesday, the company warned that any customer’s personal and significant health claims data might have been compromised in the recent breach. This is one day after they first announced the potential leak of information.
The company’s shares fell more than 14% in value, the most significant one-day drop since it first went public in 2014. Medibank provided health care coverage for one out of every six Australians and said that the cost did not include additional run-off costs or regulatory expenses that might occur.
“Our investigation has discovered that the criminal not only accessed all our private health insurance customers’ data but also a great deal of their health claims data,” chief executive David Koczkar said in a statement.“I am deeply sorry to our customers. This is an inexcusable crime – it was created to harm those most vulnerable in society.”
The company stated that its IT systems had not yet been infected by ransomware, but it would continue to monitor its system for any suspicious activity.
On Wednesday, John Goodall, Medibank’s top technology executive, stated, “Everywhere we have identified a breach, it is now closed.”
Medibank withdrew its policyholder growth forecast for fiscal 2023 and reported an after-tax profit of A$394 million in August 2022.
The Medibank hack is the latest in a series of data breaches that have occurred in Australia. This string of incidents has alarmed both the government and the private sector.
Last month, Singapore Telecommunications Ltd-owned Optus revealed that approximately 10 million customer accounts had data taken by a hacker who demanded payment. With this number making up 40% of Australia’s population, the telco is the country’s No. 2.
The person who claimed responsibility for the Optus hack later retracted their demand due to fear of press attention.
The government has also said it would introduce fines for companies victims of data breaches, with a maximum penalty of A$50 million.
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