Hackers steal 10 years of pathology requests, including Medicare provider numbers

A specialist pathology lab estimates 130,000 documents were hacked.
Sarah Simpkins

Australian Federal Police is investigating after 10 years of pathology requests, including patients’ Medicare numbers and doctors’ provider numbers, were hacked by cybercriminals.

Victorian pathology provider TissuPath says around 130,000 documents — mostly request forms scanned at the company between 2011 and 2020 — were stolen from a third-party IT supplier.

These included patient names, dates of birth, addresses, Medicare numbers and private health insurance details, as well as doctors’ names, provider numbers, practice addresses and contact numbers.

In a letter to doctors, TissuPath said the hacker threatened to publish the data if “certain demands” were not met by 26 August.