Australian IVF Giant Genea has announced a cyber security incident that disrupted patient services and has led to the access of potentially sensitive information.
Genea, one of the three largest IVF providers in Australia with 21 clinics throughout the country, confirmed the incident in a statement Wednesday on her website.
Australia’s national broadcaster ABC report That Gena unveiled the incident after ABC reporters contacted the company about the cyber attack. ABC said that after asked Genea, the fertility giant Porter Novelli, a public relations company, was involved in helping companies that respond to cyber attacks and data breaches.
When he was reached by Techcrunch, Lauren Clancy, who represented Genea via Porter Novelli, the incident to Techcrunch and said in an e -mail statement that the company urgently investigates the cyber security incident.
“As soon as we had discovered the incident, we immediately took steps to control the incident and secure our systems,” said the spokesperson. “We work hard to ensure that there is minimal disruption of the treatment provided to our patients.”
In his public statement, Genea confirmed that the hacker behind the cyber attack “Access to Genea” data, but the spokesperson refused to say which types of data were accessible when requested by Techcrunch.
Genea told customers on 13 February that the malfunctions experienced with his telephone lines before it confirmed the cyber attack, according to a post on the Instagram page of Genea, which has seen Techcrunch.
According to ABC, the Mygenea app of the company, with which patients can follow their cycle and view the fertility data, was also taken offline as a result of the incident.
Genea says about his website that it collects the very sensitive health information of patients; medical, nurse and scientific information; and procedures and tests performed at Genea or elsewhere. It is not yet known whether the sensitive medical data of patients are accessible or taken.
“Our research is underway and we will communicate with affected persons if our research identifies any evidence that their personal information has been influenced, consistent with our legal and regulatory obligations,” the representative of Genea told Techcrunch.
