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Data will be published within 24 hours, according to a post on a darknet blog, after the Australian health insurer refused to pay the ransom.
“Data will be published in 24 hours…P.S. I recommend selling Medibank stocks,” said the ransomware gang.
Medibank chief executive David Koczar said, “Customers should remain vigilant. We knew the publication of data online by the criminal could be a possibility, but the criminal’s threat is still a distressing development for our customers.”
In October, a ransomware group breached Medibank’s treasure chest of 9.7 million customers (both previous and current) confidential data. The health insurer described this incident as a distressing development.
When an unknown gang hacked into Medibank’s system a few weeks ago, it obtained nearly 500,000 health claims and disclosed the personal information of previous and present clients.
Cybersecurity expert Troy Hunt tweeted on Tuesday, “This is horrendous, but not unsurprising if you look at ransomware like a business.”
“If they *don’t* dump the data publicly, what message does that send to future ‘customers’?”
“Based on the extensive advice we have received from cybercrime experts, we believe there is only a limited chance paying a ransom would ensure the return of our customers’ data and prevent it from being published,” Kozar emphasised.
The home affairs minister, Clare O’Neil, stated that Medibank’s choice not to pay a ransom to cyber thieves was consistent with government guidelines. The post on a dark web site was linked to a Russian ransomware called REvil, responsible for many hacking cases.
Brett Callow said that REvil “was brash and often taunted its victims.”
Meanwhile, two law firms, one of which was involved in a successful lawsuit involving a data breach at Ambulance NSW, say Medibank abandoned clients and violated the Privacy Act by failing to stop the incursion.
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