Medical Data of 1 Million New Zealanders Potentially Exposed in Health System Breach

Medical Data of 1 Million New Zealanders Potentially Exposed in Health System Breach

The health organization realized during an investigation of an August breach that its systems had been breached several times prior to the known attack.

  • By Haley Samsel
  • Oct 14, 2019

A data breach at a primary health organization, or PHO, in New Zealand may have led to the exposure of the medical data of about 1 million people. 

Tū Ora Compass Health, which had its systems and website hacked in August, is now revealing the potential ramifications of data breaches going back from 2016 to March 2019, TechRadar reported. 

The full scale of the PHO’s cybersecurity issues was revealed as part of its investigation of the August breach. A statement from Tū Ora said that the organization is not sure if patient data was compromised or even accessed by an outside group. 

“Despite careful investigation, we cannot say for certain whether or not the cyber attacks resulted in any individual patient information being accessed. It is likely we will never know," the statement said. 

While the PHO oversees an area with a population of 648,000 people, the number of patients with exposed data goes into the millions because Tū Ora maintains data going back to 2002. Some of that data included names, ages, ethnicities and addresses in addition to more personal medical information, including smoking status, immunizations and more. 

The New Zealand health ministry has been notified of the cyber attack, and all PHOS and health boards in the country were ordered to review their “external facing” cyber security by Oct. 8, according to The Dominion Post, a New Zealand news site. Tū Ora said it will move to a more “modern” and secure infrastructure with Microsoft Azure. 

“The new Tū Ora Microsoft Azure environment will be fully secured, with a defense in depth approach to protecting all our electronic assets,” the organization said. 

Jonathan Deveaux, the head of enterprise data protection at comforte AG, said that the case showed that the PHO did not appear to have encryption protections on the data itself and left it in clear text form. 

“It’s a good thing that no payment info, tax numbers, passport numbers, nor driver’s license numbers were on the server; otherwise, those data elements would have been exposed as well,” Deveaux said. “It seems there may be some technology and business leaders who are still accepting the risk that their data is of no interest to hackers, or their business model is unattractive for threat-actors to access. The PHO data breach, and many other breaches reported, proves that this is not the case.”

 

About the Author

Haley Samsel is an Associate Content Editor for the Infrastructure Solutions Group at 1105 Media.

Featured

  • From Surveillance to Intelligence

    Years ago, it would have been significantly more expensive to run an analytic like that — requiring a custom-built solution with burdensome infrastructure demands — but modern edge devices have made it accessible to everyone. It also saves time, which is a critical factor if a missing child is involved. Video compression technology has played a critical role as well. Over the years, significant advancements have been made in video coding standards — including H.263, MPEG formats, and H.264—alongside compression optimization technologies developed by IP video manufacturers to improve efficiency without sacrificing quality. The open-source AV1 codec developed by the Alliance for Open Media—a consortium including Google, Netflix, Microsoft, Amazon and others — is already the preferred decoder for cloud-based applications, and is quickly becoming the standard for video compression of all types. Read Now

  • Cost: Reactive vs. Proactive Security

    Security breaches often happen despite the availability of tools to prevent them. To combat this problem, the industry is shifting from reactive correction to proactive protection. This article will examine why so many security leaders have realized they must “lead before the breach” – not after. Read Now

  • Achieving Clear Audio

    In today’s ever-changing world of security and risk management, effective communication via an intercom and door entry communication system is a critical communication tool to keep a facility’s staff, visitors and vendors safe. Read Now

  • Beyond Apps: Access Control for Today’s Residents

    The modern resident lives in an app-saturated world. From banking to grocery delivery, fitness tracking to ridesharing, nearly every service demands another download. But when it comes to accessing the place you live, most people do not want to clutter their phone with yet another app, especially if its only purpose is to open a door. Read Now

  • Survey: 48 Percent of Worshippers Feel Less Safe Attending In-Person Services

    Almost half (48%) of those who attend religious services say they feel less safe attending in-person due to rising acts of violence at places of worship. In fact, 39% report these safety concerns have led them to change how often they attend in-person services, according to new research from Verkada conducted online by The Harris Poll among 1,123 U.S. adults who attend a religious service or event at least once a month. Read Now

Most   Popular

New Products

  • AC Nio

    AC Nio

    Aiphone, a leading international manufacturer of intercom, access control, and emergency communication products, has introduced the AC Nio, its access control management software, an important addition to its new line of access control solutions.

  • FEP GameChanger

    FEP GameChanger

    Paige Datacom Solutions Introduces Important and Innovative Cabling Products GameChanger Cable, a proven and patented solution that significantly exceeds the reach of traditional category cable will now have a FEP/FEP construction.

  • Luma x20

    Luma x20

    Snap One has announced its popular Luma x20 family of surveillance products now offers even greater security and privacy for home and business owners across the globe by giving them full control over integrators’ system access to view live and recorded video. According to Snap One Product Manager Derek Webb, the new “customer handoff” feature provides enhanced user control after initial installation, allowing the owners to have total privacy while also making it easy to reinstate integrator access when maintenance or assistance is required. This new feature is now available to all Luma x20 users globally. “The Luma x20 family of surveillance solutions provides excellent image and audio capture, and with the new customer handoff feature, it now offers absolute privacy for camera feeds and recordings,” Webb said. “With notifications and integrator access controlled through the powerful OvrC remote system management platform, it’s easy for integrators to give their clients full control of their footage and then to get temporary access from the client for any troubleshooting needs.”