Privacy Commissioner announces inquiry into Manage My Health cybersecurity breach

Michael Webster cited the scale and sensitivity of the incident as reasons for the investigation. Photo / Supplied

The Privacy Commissioner has announced an inquiry into the Manage My Health cyber security breach.

Michael Webster says it is clear a privacy investigation is needed given the scale of the incident, the sensitivity of the information and some of the systemic issues that were identified.

He said the inquiry would help determine whether Manage My Health had appropriate security safeguards and, if not, why not.

It would also look at what steps would be taken to prevent such an incident happening again.

At the end of December, Manage My Health confirmed it had been hacked, later revealing that information of about 120,000 users could be affected.

Webster earlier told the Herald he favours much tougher penalties to incentivise companies to follow data protection and privacy rules.

MoH review

On January 5, Health Minister Simeon Brown ordered the Ministry of Health to begin a review of the ManageMyHealth cyberbreach by January 30, covering the causes, the adequacy of protections and recommended improvements to prevent similar incidents occurring. The ministry will consult with the National Cyber Security Centre on the terms of reference, Brown said.

-RNZ