Patient data stolen from a North Island GP's IT platforms has been uploaded to the internet.
Pinnacle Midlands Health Network, which has more than 85 GP practices and 450,000 patients on its books, was the subject of a cyber attack in late September.
Today its chief executive Justin Butcher says in the last 24 hours he'd been made aware that the stolen data had been made public.
GP network Pinnacle Health, which has over 85 GP clinics in the North Island, had patient data taken in a cyberattack. (Source: 1News)
"We acknowledge that this will be concerning to our patients and their whānau and we are taking this seriously," he says. "Our immediate focus is on supporting people who may have been impacted and working with authorities to ensure we are doing everything we need to be."
He says the information released does not include GP notes and consultation records. But it does include data related to the use of hospital and Pinnacle health services, and information sent to practices around immunisations and health screenings.
“This is extremely unfortunate, and we are gutted as this impacts our whānau also. Cyber incidents like this are a constant threat, and while they are the doing of malicious actors, we feel for everyone who may have been affected."
Ransomware group
Joerg Buss, information security expert at Darkscope, told 1News the ransomware group BlackCat was likely behind the attack.
The group, which had Russian links, had been around since November 2021, when several other groups - DarkSide and BlackMatter - "disappeared".
"We assume BlackCat is an evolution of those groups."
He said they hit "random" industries and weren't focused on one particular area.
"Pinnacle is just one unlucky business that got hit."
According to Reuters, BlackCat was behind an attack on Italy's state-owned energy services firm GSE.
Have you been affected? Email corazon.miller@tvnz.co.nz
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