Australia's Medibank served with third class-action complaint over computer breach

Australia's Medibank Private Ltd said on Friday it was issued with another class-action complaint linked to the cyber intrusion event last year in which personal data of current and past clients was disclosed on the dark web.

The third class-action complaint relating to the event was filed in the country's federal court by law firm Slater & Gordon on behalf of aggrieved current and former Medibank customers, and healthcare service providers.

Among the several breaches announced by Australian corporations since late last year, Medibank had stated that a hacker obtained personal information of 9.7 million current and past customers and posted the data on the dark web.

In a statement on its website, Slater & Gordon stated that the health insurance failed to secure, or take reasonable efforts to protect the personal information of its clients, so infringing consumer law and privacy standards.

In recent months, similar class action actions against the corporation have been launched by legal firms Baker & McKenzie and Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan.

Medibank, which is also under investigation from the country's privacy agency on how it handles personal information, said it will fight the actions.