Medibank Private Ltd (ASX:MPL) has resumed trading after its shares were placed in a trading halt following a cyber incident that occurred on its networks last Wednesday.
Notably, the company has confirmed today that there remains no evidence that customer data has been removed from its IT environment.
Last Wednesday, Medibank systems detected unusual activity consistent with the precursors to a ransomware event.
Subsequently, normal operations have resumed as the company continues to investigate the incident as part of its ongoing forensic analysis.
Medibank shares are currently trading at $3.38, down 4% from before the trading halt.
Our CEO David Koczkar is providing an update on Medibank’s cyber incident from 9.30am AEDT Watch here: https://t.co/jNLPXVmOy2#MPL #ahm #Medibankhttps://t.co/xKOPtI7XLz
— Medibank (@medibank) October 16, 2022
“Ongoing investigations continue”
Medibank CEO David Koczkar said: “We are sorry this incident occurred and we understand this news may have caused concerns and inconvenience for some of our customers.
“We took the necessary precautions to protect the data of our customers, people and other stakeholders, and we will continue to do so.
“I thank our customers for their patience during this incident.
“We take the protection of our customers’ data very seriously and ongoing investigations continue to show no evidence customer data has been removed from our network. We will provide updates if the situation changes.
“I would like to thank the Australian Cyber Security Centre, regulators and government departments who have contributed to, and supported our response and worked so effectively with us.
“We will also share technical information with peers across the industry as part of our commitment to helping others understand how this incident transpired and to allow our industry peers to bolster their own defences.
“And, of course, I would like to thank our people, who throughout this incident remained focused on supporting the health and well-being of our customers.
“In particular, thank you to our frontline people who did an exceptional job in helping our customers.”
What happened?
The company reported unusual activity on its networks last Wednesday, showing characteristics of a potential cyber incident.
In response to this event, the company took immediate action taking some of the critical customer-facing portals, which include the Australian Health Management (AHM) and international student policy systems, offline.
Consequently, Medibank shares entered a trading halt following the announcement of the cyber incident and the health insurer confirmed it would remain closed for trading as it investigated the incident.