Hackers who claim to have accessed the health records of more than 100,000 people in New Zealand have reportedly extended their ransom deadline to Friday, saying they want to build a “good reputation.”
The privately owned Manage My Health platform confirmed that cybercriminals accessed records belonging to about six to seven percent of its 1.8 million users nationwide.
The data breach was discovered on December 30 after the company was alerted by a “partner.” New Zealand authorities have not publicly identified the individuals or group responsible.
However, a Telegram user operating under the name “Kazu” has claimed responsibility, alleging they accessed more than 428,000 files on the Manage My Health system and shared sample files online.
“Kazu” said the group demanded a ransom of US$60,000 (about Ksh.7.7 million), initially setting a deadline of Tuesday morning to prevent the data from being released or sold.
According to New Zealand daily newspaper The Post, the hackers later confirmed that the deadline had been extended to 5:00 am Friday (1600 GMT Thursday).
In earlier Telegram messages, “Kazu” said the group was not politically motivated, insisting the attack was purely financial.
“We know exactly how valuable health data is and how sensitive it can be,” the group said on Sunday. “We are doing this as a business. Our main goal is money and building a good reputation in the community.”
A later post made a political reference to Venezuela, stating: “free Nicolas Maduro.”
Manage My Health’s platform stores patient medical records and personal details such as phone numbers and addresses.
The company said appointment and prescription information was not affected by the breach.
In a statement released Tuesday, Manage My Health said it had identified all patients whose records may have been accessed and had begun notifying those affected.
The company did not comment on the ransom demand or deadline.
Meanwhile, Health Minister Simeon Brown announced on Monday that a review had been launched into the company’s handling of the data breach.
“I know this breach will be very concerning to the many New Zealanders who use ManageMyHealth, and we need assurances around the protection and security of people’s health data,” Brown said. “We must learn from this incident to avoid any repeat events in the future.”
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