Australian IVF giant Genea confirms a major cyber attack on its systems

Australian IVF giant Genea recently suffered a data security incident that forced it to take several systems offline and launch an investigation to determine its impact on patient data.

 

In a data security incident notice published on its website Wednesday, the fertility treatment provider said that it recently identified suspicious activity in its internal network and immediately launched an investigation, with assistance from external cyber security experts, to determine the nature and scope of the incident.

 

Genea said it took several systems offline as a precaution and is in the process of restoring them.

 

“Our ongoing investigation has identified that an unauthorised third party has accessed Genea data. We are urgently investigating the nature and extent of data that has been accessed and the extent to which it contains personal information,” it said.

 

Genea added that it will notify relevant individuals if the investigation identifies any evidence of personal information being compromised.

 

“We are working hard to ensure that there is minimal disruption to treatment being provided to our patients. If you do not hear from your local Genea clinic, there is no change to your current treatment schedule.

 

“We also want to reassure you that our teams of specialists, nurses and office support staff are working tirelessly to ensure that there is minimal disruption to your treatment, which is of our utmost priority and importance,” the healthcare provider added.

 

The news of the data security incident follows almost a week after Genea reported suffering phone outages across multiple clinics. In fact, several patients reported that the company’s MyGenea app was also not working properly.

 

At the time of publishing, no known hacker group has claimed responsibility for the cyber attack on Genea. The healthcare company also did not share details on who was behind the cyber attack or whether it has received a ransom demand.