Australia Falls Behind in Cyber Security: Australian Minister

Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Cyber Security Clare O'Neil speaks to media in Melbourne, Australia, on Oct. 20, 2022. AAP Image/James Ross

Australian Cyber Security Minister Clare O'Neil has admitted that the country is in a bad position in the fight against cyber-attacks following the latest data breach at private health insurance provider Medibank.

This comes as up to four million Australians now face the risk of having their personal information stolen.

According to Medibank, the alleged hackers claimed they had obtained 200 gigabytes of data, including medical history, Medicare numbers, addresses, phone numbers and some claims data. However, the company was unsure if the hackers’ claims were accurate.

The attack is currently under investigation by the Australian Federal Police, and Medibank said it was trying to verify what information was stolen and how this would affect customers.

The minister said that the Medibank data breach, plus the massive cyber-attack on phone and internet provider Optus in September, had caused significant concerns about cyber security.

“We’ve really got to just step back and have a good conversation here about what is going on and why it is that we are so behind the eight ball with cyber issues generally,” O'Neil told the Seven Network.

“We’ve got to muscle up here and understand that this is our future, and our job is to make sure that the country is better prepared when things like this happen.”

Medibank signage sits on top of the Medibank building in Melbourne, Australia, on Oct. 1, 2014. Scott Barbour/Getty Images

While O'Neil said she believed that Medibank had taken all necessary steps after it found out about the cyber-attack, the minister noted it was alarming that the medical details of Australians were exposed.

“At the end of the day, you can replace a credit card. This is health information, it is private and personal information of people that has no place being put into the public realm,” she said.

“It will be a dog act if these cyber thugs make the decision to make any of the information public.”

Finance Minister Katy Gallagher said the priority of the government right now was dealing with the Medibank situation and looking at what can be done to protect people who might have had their information stolen.

“Absolutely, we need to respond to the bigger picture in light of the fact that these attacks are here, they are happening more often, and there are serious breaches often.”

The Opposition’s Reaction on Medibank Data Breach

Meanwhile, Opposition government services spokesman Paul Fletcher criticised the government for being slow in dealing with the data breach.

“Affected customers are still in the dark and rightly fearful of the integrity of their accounts,” he said in a statement.

“This confusion is compounded by the changing allocation of ministerial responsibility for cyber security.”

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said the Coalition would support tougher legislation on the storage of personal data by companies.

“It needs to be dealt with quickly,” he told the Nine Network.

“The companies have an onus to disclose and support.”