Medibank shares on pause amid cyber incident

A recent cyber attack has prompted Medibank Private shares to enter a trading halt while the health insurance group takes some of its systems offline.

Medibank Group announced it detected unusual activity on its network yesterday but took immediate steps to contain the incident and engaged specialised cyber security firms.

According to a statement released this morning, there was no evidence any sensitive or customer data had been accessed at this stage.

"As part of our response to this incident, Medibank will be isolating and removing access to some customer-facing systems to reduce the likelihood of damage to systems or data loss," the statement said.

"As a result our ahm and international student policy management systems have been taken offline. We expect these systems to be offline for most of the day.

"This will cause regrettable disruptions for some of our customers. ahm and international student customers will still be able to contact our customer teams via phone but at this stage our people won’t be able to access policy information."

The securities of Medibank Private will also be placed in a trading halt, at the request of the company, as announced on the ASX this morning.

Medibank chief executive David Koczkar said the company was working "around the clock" to understand the full nature of the incident and the possible impacts on customers.

“I apologise and acknowledge that in the current environment this news may make people concerned," he said.

"Our highest priority is resolving this matter as transparently and quickly as possible. We will continue to take decisive action to protect Medibank Group customers and our people.

“We recognise the significant responsibility we have to the people who rely on us to look after their health and wellbeing and whose data we hold."

Investigations are ongoing.

This cyber attack follows the Optus data breach late last month, where hackers reportedly released details of 10,000 Australian customers including passport and driver's licence numbers.

Several investigations have since been launched following the Optus data breach, including the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner starting an inquiry into personal information handling practices of the telecommunications company.

Premier Mark McGowan announced Western Australians who have had their drivers' licence details compromised in the Optus data breach would be entitled to a new number.