Adelaide Hospital Data Breach Affects Multiple Individuals

A data breach at a private hospital in Adelaide has affected a group of individuals, with the hospital notifying government authorities and those impacted. The breach was confirmed by St Andrew's Hospital on Thursday morning, although the precise number of people affected and the circumstances around the breach are currently unknown.

In a statement, the hospital's Chief Information Officer Nathan Crettenden said an internal investigation "identified that a subset of data from our servers was downloaded".

"As soon as the incident was identified, our team took our systems offline as a precaution, worked to secure our environment and strengthen our security protocols, and engaged specialist forensic experts to conduct an investigation," said Mr Crettenden. "We are taking all reasonable steps to limit the impact of the incident and improve our security posture in response to the incident."

The hospital's CEO Angela McCabe said an "investigation into the nature and extent of the incident has now progressed to the point where we can communicate directly with affected individuals, in line with our regulatory obligations".

She said affected individuals were provided information and support as to how they can protect their personal information. The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner and the Australian Cyber Security Centre have been notified of the breach.

Ms McCabe said the hospital was working with government agencies to "apply 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 on the matter later on Thursday. "We expect to be updated on exactly what's occurred here and whether or not things have occurred of a criminal nature that might be subject of the South Australian criminal code," Mr Malinauskas said.

"That will be of interest to us. The cyber security dynamic globally is clearly under challenge and under threat and it will be important that our law enforcement agencies assess the situation," he said.