Thieves target alcohol illnesses in Australian data dump

By ROD McGUIRK
Associated Press

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Cybercriminals have dumped personal medical records on the dark web for a third day, this time focusing on alcohol-related illnesses, as they pressure Australia’s largest health insurer to pay a ransom for the stolen customer data of almost 10 million people. The criminals began dumping hundreds of customer records on Wednesday including those involving treatments for HIV and drug addiction after Medibank ruled out paying a ransom for the return of the hacked data. The focus shifted to terminated pregnancies in Thursday’s dump and on Friday to conditions related to harmful levels of alcohol consumption. Medibank CEO David Koczkar said his company is contacting exposed customers and offering support. He expected the daily dumps will continue.