Medibank share price sinks on cyber incident and trading update

The Medibank Private Ltd (ASX: MPL) share price has returned from its trading halt and dropped deep into the red.

In morning trade, the private health insurer’s shares are down 4.5% to $3.35.

Why is the Medibank share price falling?

Investors have been selling down the Medibank share price today despite the company releasing a positive update on last week’s cybersecurity incident.

Last week, Medibank revealed that it detected unusual activity on its network. In response, the company took immediate steps to contain the incident, and engaged specialised cyber security firms.

The good news is that Medibank doesn’t believe that any customer data has been removed.

According to the release, ongoing investigations continue to show that there remains no evidence customer data has been removed from its IT environment. As a result, normal operations have resumed. Though, Medibank will continue to investigate the incident as part of its ongoing forensic analysis.

Management notes that as a health company providing health insurance and health services, Medibank holds a range of necessary personal information of customers. In light of this, it stressed that the protection of customers’ data security is its highest priority.

As a result, Medibank has deployed additional security measures across its network, strengthening the integrity of its systems.

What actually happened?

At this stage, Medibank’s investigation indicates that its cyber security systems had detected activity consistent with the precursor to a ransomware event. This initial finding was shared with the Australian Cyber Security Centre, who provided Medibank with additional guidance in support of this conclusion.

Medibank’s systems were not encrypted by ransomware during this incident and there is no indication that the incident was caused by a state-based threat actor.

Trading update

In other news, Medibank has taken this opportunity to provide the market with an update on its performance so far in FY 2023.

Positively, during the three months to 30 September, Medibank has continued to show good momentum and is tracking in line with the FY 2023 outlook provided with its full year results.

Management does not expect this short disruption to impact this momentum.

The post Medibank share price sinks on cyber incident and trading update appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Medibank shares on ice as details of cyberattack emerge
• Experts name 2 ASX dividend shares to buy now
• Macquarie reveals ASX 200 shares ‘more likely to outperform in a bear market rally’
• Buy these ASX 200 shares with big fully franked yields: experts
• Own Medibank shares? You’re getting paid today

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

from The Motley Fool Australia https://ift.tt/2sCGhHa