In recent news, Monash Health, a major public health service in Victoria, Australia, has been impacted by a cyber attack involving ZircoDATA, a document storage and information management company. This breach was first reported by ZircoDATA in February, which also affected some of Monash Health’s archived historical documents.
On May 3, Monash Health revealed that some of its sensitive historical data related to domestic violence victims was exposed due to the hack. The compromised information included archived data from family violence and sexual assault support units at Monash Medical Centre, Queen Victoria Hospital, and Southern Health between 1970 and 1993. Eugine Yafele, the Chief Executive of Monash Health, expressed regret over the breach and assured that they are collaborating with ZircoDATA to investigate the incident.
This hacking incident is part of a growing trend in cyber threats targeting healthcare organizations globally. Black Basta, a ransomware gang, claimed responsibility for hacking ZircoDATA and stealing significant amounts of data including financial documents, personal information and confidentiality agreements. Although an initial ransom deadline was set up but the situation is still ongoing.
The National Cyber Security Coordinator Lt. Gen. Michelle McGuinness stated that several government entities and organizations have been impacted by this breach including St Vincent’s Health who also reported a data breach earlier this year before any sensitive data were accessed by the hackers.
The response to these cyber threats requires collaboration between affected entities, government agencies and cybersecurity experts to identify the extent of the breach; notify affected individuals; strengthen cybersecurity measures to prevent similar incidents in the future.
