{"id":224278,"date":"2026-01-09T02:35:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T02:35:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/224278\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T02:35:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T02:35:12","slug":"managemyhealth-data-breach-victims-health-records-vanish-from-portal-as-she-awaits-brain-scan-results","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/224278\/","title":{"rendered":"ManageMyHealth data breach victim\u2019s health records vanish from portal, as she awaits brain scan results"},"content":{"rendered":"\u201cOut there somewhere is personal information that my family doesn\u2019t even know.\u201d<\/p>\n
She noted she had been so cautious of sharing her personal information, she didn\u2019t even have internet banking.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a reason I don\u2019t have apps on my phone, but they told me I could trust it [ManageMyHealth],\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cDoctors can\u2019t be touting stuff if they\u2019re not certain it\u2019s safe. They\u2019re supposed to be people who people can rely on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jane is one of about 127,000 people whose health records have been compromised in the attack, which ManageMyHealth became aware of on December 30.<\/p>\n
The attacker allegedly demanded the company pays a US$60,000 ($104,000) ransom by 5am today to avoid the data being distributed. <\/p>\n
ManageMyHealth is issuing daily updates, but is declining to answer the Herald\u2019s questions, including around what\u2019s happened to Jane\u2019s documents, whether it\u2019s negotiating with the hacker, and whether it\u2019s been audited by a government entity.<\/p>\n
The portal, which has 1.85 million users in New Zealand, works in conjunction with one of the two main operating systems GP clinics use. Medical practitioners use it to share information with their patients \u2013 including notes from appointments, test results and prescription information.<\/p>\n
Jane believed personal health-related photos were among the documents that have now disappeared from the portal. <\/p>\n
Some data breach victims have heard from their clinics, but not ManageMyHealth. However, Jane had only heard from the latter. <\/p>\n
She was incensed by its communications ironically being headed, \u201cprivate and confidential\u201d. <\/p>\n
Jane hadn\u2019t contacted ManageMyHealth to ask where her documents had gone.<\/p>\n
The Herald has heard a report of the 0800 number ManageMyHealth has given victims being clogged and not connecting to an operator.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t trust them,\u201d Jane said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re going to cover their asses \u2026 They\u2019re in PR mode.\u201d<\/p>\n
ManageMyHealth hasn\u2019t said anything in its daily updates about people\u2019s files going missing. <\/p>\n
On Thursday, it said it was still in the process of contacting those whose data had been breached.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe issue now is, who\u2019s going to take accountability?\u201d Jane questioned.<\/p>\n
Health Minister Simeon Brown has distanced the Government from the saga, saying ManageMyHealth was responsible for keeping the data safe.<\/p>\n
He directed the Ministry of Health to do a review in the wake of the breach. <\/p>\n
The Office of the Privacy Commissioner wants the Privacy Act to be strengthened, as there is no civil penalty regime for organisations that fail to protect personal information.<\/p>\n
Health New Zealand hasn\u2019t responded to the Herald\u2019s questions about the oversight it has of companies like ManageMyHealth that provide key services to the health sector. <\/p>\n
Health New Zealand issues providers with detailed IT guidelines, but hasn\u2019t told the Herald if it has audited ManageMyHealth.<\/p>\n
In terms of accountability provided by ManageMyHealth\u2019s governance structure, it only has two directors, one of whom is its chief executive and sole owner (via another company) \u2013 Vino Ramayah. <\/p>\n
It is establishing an advisory board to provide it with support in the wake of the attack.<\/p>\n
Jen\u00e9e Tibshraeny is the Herald\u2019s Wellington business editor, based in the parliamentary press gallery. She specialises in government and Reserve Bank policymaking, economics and banking.<\/p>\n
Stay ahead with the latest market moves, corporate updates, and economic insights by subscribing to our Business newsletter<\/a> \u2013 your essential weekly round-up of all the business news you need.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cOut there somewhere is personal information that my family doesn\u2019t even know.\u201d She noted she had been so…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":224279,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[806,89,27495,1596,4378,4373,3105,34893,71,2219,305,134,37772,127691,6501,3025,111,43,139,69,128801,9090,5909,19187,20863,33448,29661,1337,8844],"class_list":["post-224278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-as","tag-attack","tag-awaits","tag-brain","tag-breach","tag-cyber","tag-data","tag-documents","tag-from","tag-gone","tag-have","tag-health","tag-horrified","tag-managemyhealth","tag-missing","tag-most","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-portal","tag-records","tag-results","tag-scan","tag-she","tag-stored","tag-vanish","tag-victim","tag-victims"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=224278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224278\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/224279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=224278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=224278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}