A class action lawsuit has been filed against Medibank

Medibank, an Australian medical insurer, is facing a class action lawsuit filed by law firm Slater and Gordon in the Federal Court for alleged breaches of privacy and consumer laws, as well as customer data protection legislation, following a ransomware attack that occurred last year. The lawsuit claims that Medibank and its subsidiary, ahm, failed to protect customer information from unauthorized access or disclosure, did not destroy or anonymize former customers’ personal information, and did not comply with legal obligations concerning the collection, use, storage, and disclosure of customer information. The law firm also alleged that Medibank breached its contractual obligations to customers by failing to provide adequate and appropriate security controls to protect their information. The data breach, which occurred in October, affected 9.7 million policyholders, including 5.1 million Medibank customers, 2.8 million ahm customers, and 1.8 million international customers. Medibank has said it will defend the proceedings. In addition, Deloitte has conducted an independent review of the incident, and Medibank has said it will implement all recommendations not already undertaken, as well as other previously planned enhancements.