New Zealand government review of ManageMyHealth hack ordered

New Zealand's Ministry of Health has been ordered by its minister Simeon Brown to immediately review the response to the sweeping data breach impacting patient information portal ManageMyHealth, which was threatened to have 400,000 exfiltrated files exposed should it refuse to pay the demanded ransom by Tuesday, reports Radio New Zealand.

Assessment of the ManageMyHealth intrusion should include not only an evaluation of the incident's cause and the sufficiency of implemented data protections and incident response measures, but also recommendations to avoid the recurrence of similar breaches, said Brown in a letter to New Zealand Director-General of Health Audrey Sonerson. While such a review should commence as soon as possible, it is crucial that it does not hinder incident response efforts, Brown noted.

"I know this breach will be very concerning to the many New Zealanders who use ManageMyHealth, and we need assurances around the protection and security of people's health data," he added.