"Hackers Target Australian Health Insurance Agency Medibank in Major Breach of Patient Data"
It has recently been discovered that hackers have breached the cloud-based data network of one of Australia's largest health insurers, potentially exposing the personal information of millions of patients throughout the country. Medibank stated that cybercriminals had circumvented its security controls and absconded with 200 gigabytes of customer data that may include credit card numbers, home addresses, Medicare account numbers, and the private details of diagnoses and medical procedures. Government investigators are heading up a criminal probe with the help of cybersecurity experts from the Australian Signals Directorate, but so far, authorities have not announced any suspects or arrests. Medibank noted that after the breach, an anonymous perpetrator called the company to "negotiate" a ransom. The voice over the phone claimed the heist of 200 GB of data, and the person later provided a sample of 100 policies to prove it. Medibank has around 4 million customers nationwide, but only 1 million have their critical information stored in the database that was hacked this week.