Arabic version: مستشفى سانت أندروز يبلّغ عن خرق للبيانات الشخصية

According to ABC News, Adelaide’s St Andrew’s Hospital has reported a personal information data breach affecting “a group of individuals”. The private hospital said it had notified affected people as well as federal privacy and cyber security agencies, while the number of people involved and the circumstances of the breach remain unknown.

Chief information officer Nathan Crettenden said an internal investigation found that “a subset of data from our servers was downloaded”. He said the hospital took its systems offline as a precaution after identifying the incident, secured its environment, strengthened security protocols and engaged specialist forensic experts to investigate.

Chief executive Angela McCabe said the investigation had progressed sufficiently for the hospital to communicate directly with affected individuals in line with regulatory obligations. She said those individuals had been given information and support on protecting their personal information. The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner and the Australian Cyber Security Centre have been notified.

Ms McCabe said the hospital was working with government agencies on additional protective measures to help detect and prevent suspicious and fraudulent activity. South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas said the state government expected to be briefed later on Thursday, including on whether matters of a criminal nature may be involved. He said law enforcement agencies would need to assess the situation.