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Major Australian IVF provider Genea is currently under investigation by leading class action law firm Phi Finney McDonald after it suffered a data breach earlier this year.
In February, Genea revealed that it suffered a cyber attack leading to data theft, an attack that was quickly claimed by the Termite ransomware group.
While the company did not initially notify its customers as to what data was stolen in the hack, Genea CEO Tim Yeoh confirmed in July that patient full names, phone numbers, dates of birth, addresses, Medicare card numbers, medical diagnosis, and “clinical information related to the services that you received from Genea or other health service providers and/or medical treatment” was stolen in the cyber attack.
Following this, the Supreme Court of NSW granted the company a permanent and final injunction regarding the publication and sharing of the stolen data.
However, customers were disappointed with Genea’s response to the incident. Speaking with the ABC, one former customer who had undergone multiple unsuccessful rounds of IVF with Genea over a two-year period said that Genea appeared to be downplaying the risk created by the data being stolen.
Now, following a number of customers speaking to the law firm, Phi Finney McDonald has launched an investigation into the circumstances that led to Genea being breached by threat actors.
“Patients at Genea are entitled to the highest levels of privacy and safety to ensure their personal details and medical histories remain secure,” said Phi Finney McDonald principal lawyer Tania Noonan.
“Phi Finney McDonald is conducting inquiries into the circumstances of the Genea data breach and potential redress for individuals impacted.”
The law firm is inviting Genea clients to register interest in updates in the investigation and says that it will determine “potential claims that may be available to impacted patients against Genea as a result of the breach”.
One patient, as seen by The Sydney Morning Herald, said the incident was “emotionally devastating” and expressed interest in joining the class action.
“If I could think about any part of my life that I would not want to be available to download on the dark web, it would be my medical information and more poignantly, my fertility information,” he said.
“It’s made me feel really icky to know that … our entire medical and fertility history is available to purchase by anyone who wants it.”
Genea has apologised to patients in a statement, saying it wants to learn and improve from the incident.
“We are committed to learning from this incident, and we have taken steps to further strengthen our networks to ensure that we can continue to provide the very best care to our patients.”
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