National health provider collapses into administration and liquidation after cyber attack

A national medical script provider has collapsed into liquidation less than three weeks after it was hacked.

A national medical script provider has collapsed less than three weeks after it was hacked.

On Tuesday, digital prescription company MediSecure Limited went into administration while a subsidiary of the business, Operations MDS Pty Ltd, went into liquidation.

Vaughan Strawbridge and Paul Harlond of restructuring firm FTI Consulting have been announced as the joint administrators and liquidators respectively of both entities, just before noon on Wednesday.

The Melbourne-based business has been operating since 2009 and specialised in providing electronic prescriptions to health professionals.

But last month, MediSecure fell victim to a large-scale ransomware attack which appears to have made it impossible for the business to continue.

Customer details, including personal information and limited health information, was posted on the dark web.

Federal authorities have said it is still unclear how many Australians have been affected by the large-scale data breach that targeted electronic prescriptions provider MediSecure. Picture: Google

The head office of MediSecure, which has collapsed. Picture: Google

In mid May, the eHealth provider said it had identified a cybersecurity incident and that it was working closely with cyber authorities.

“MediSecure is aware that a data set containing the personal information and limited health information of our customers has been made available on a dark web forum,” the company said.

“We urge Australians to not go looking for this data. Accessing stolen sensitive or personal information on the dark web only promotes future cyber criminal activities against Australian businesses.”

National Cyber Security Coordinator Michelle McGuinness said at the time she had been notified of the MediSecure breach.

“I am working with agencies across the Australian Government, states and territories to co-ordinate a whole-of-government response to this incident,” McGuinness said last month.

“The Australian Signals Directorate Australian Cyber Security Centre is aware of the incident and the Australian Federal Police is investigating.”

Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil also weighed in, convening a peak intelligence and security officers in response to the MediSecure crisis incident.

“I have been briefed on this incident in recent days and the government convened a National Coordination Mechanism regarding this matter today,” she wrote on X.

National Cyber Security Coordinator Michelle McGuinness, a Lieutenant General, has been looking into the MediSecure case. Supplied: US Defense Intelligence Agency

MediSecure’s newly appointed liquidators said they were working with both the relevant authorities and creditors.

“The company has been in contact with the Australian government with respect to providing information in response to that incident,” Mr Strawbridge said.

“We will be speaking to the Australian government about what they need from the company and the next steps in the response to the cyber incident.”

The first meeting of creditors will be held later this month.

Hackers posted the details of MediSecure’s customers on the dark web.

It comes as at the end of last month, another healthcare provider collapsed, though for very different reasons.

“Leading” Australian telehealth provider Ereports Pty Ltd was ordered into court liquidation with debts estimated in excess of $10 million.

In 2022, health insurance giant Medibank fell victim to a major cyber hack that affected the personal details of 9.7 million people.

The attack was believed to be linked to a well-known ransomware group based in Russia.

The federal government released its seven-year cyber security strategy in November, which allocated $565m to help businesses report malicious intrusions and ransomware attacks.

The Australian Signals Directorate revealed in its annual cyber threat update that nearly 94,000 reports of cybercrime were made to police in 2022-23, an increase of 23 per cent from the previous year.

The cyber agency revealed China as a major backer of hacks targeting Australian critical infrastructure and companies.

– With NCA Newswire

Originally published as National health provider collapses into administration and liquidation after cyber attack