Minister preps for Medibank hack fallout

Ayesha de Kretser and Paul Smith

Updated Oct 25, 2022 – 5.34pm, first published at 8.59am

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The Medibank hack has developed into a crisis in the same league as the COVID-19 pandemic, Minister for cybersecurity Clare O’Neil told parliament on Tuesday, saying the “smartest and toughest” people in government would take charge of the response after criminals stepped up their demands and the scope of the crisis widened.

Australia’s biggest health insurer was forced to do yet another embarrassing backflip, revealing the extortionists have data from customers of its core Medibank brand health insurance.

Ayesha de Kretser is a senior reporter with The Australian Financial Review covering the aviation and tourism sectors. She has previously reported on banking, mining and commodity markets.

Paul Smith edits the technology coverage and has been a leading writer on the sector for 20 years. He covers big tech, business use of tech, the fast-growing Australian tech industry and start-ups, telecommunications and national innovation policy.