Medibank Data Leak: Hackers Demand US$10m To Stop Leaking Records

Australia’s biggest health insurer; Medibank is in a tight spot as hackers demand ransom to stop leaking records of almost 9.7 million of its current and former customers including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

Hackers that stole highly sensitive records from a major Australian healthcare company demanded US$10 million on Thursday to stop leaking the data, as they uploaded yet more intimate details about customers.

The data was compromised through a cyberattack. The hackers on Thursday uploaded the second batch of files to a dark web forum, with more sensitive details about hundreds of Medibank customers.

The first leaks appear to have been selected to cause maximum harm: targeting those who received treatment related to drug abuse, sexually transmitted infections, or pregnancy terminations.

“Added one more file abortions.csv,” the anonymous hackers wrote on the forum, before detailing their ransom threat.

“Society asks us about ransom, it’s 10 million USD. We can make a discount… $1 = 1 customer.”

The Medibank hack is likely to include data on some of the country’s most influential and wealthy individuals.

Medibank chief executive, David Koczkar, condemned the “disgraceful” extortion tactics.

“The weaponization of people’s private information in an effort to extort payment is malicious and it is an attack on the most vulnerable members of our community.”

The group behind the attack appears to be pressuring Medibank by hunting for the most potentially damaging personal information within the records. The first records posted to the dark web forum were separated into “naughty” and “nice” lists.

Some on the “naughty” list had numeric codes that appeared to link them to drug addiction, alcohol abuse, and HIV infection.

For example, one record carried an entry that read: “p_diag: F122.”

F122 corresponds with “cannabis dependence” under the International Classification of Diseases, published by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Names, addresses, passport numbers, and birth dates were also included in the data.

Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil has described the hackers as “scummy criminals”.

Medibank has repeatedly refused to pay the ransom.