Tū Ora Compass website targeted as part of widespread cyber incident

“The situation highlights the very real issues of cybersecurity that we all need to be aware of,” said Tū Ora Compass Health acting Chief Executive Justine Thorpe.

Tū Ora Compass Health has been working with technology and cybersecurity providers after its website was targeted as part of a widespread global cyber incident in which a number of organizations websites were defaced.

"The situation highlights the very real issues of cybersecurity that we all need to be aware of," said Tū Ora Compass Health acting Chief Executive Justine Thorpe.

"Shortly after we became aware of the incident on 5 August, we contained it by taking the compromised server offline. This stopped all access to any applications and data on that server and elsewhere within our network."

"We are also working with our technology providers to investigate the extent of the intrusion. Based on the information available at this time we have no indication that patient information or any individuals' email addresses, account user names, or passwords have been compromised."

"We have and continue to keep stakeholders including GP practices informed."

As a result of taking the affected server offline, Tū Ora Compass' website and those of 20 affiliated GP practices cannot currently be accessed. In the interim, people can access information about GP practices through Healthpoint.

"As a custodian of patient data we treat incidents like this very seriously and are taking all actions to ensure our server is secure, however, we would like to apologize for any inconvenience caused by taking this server offline," she says.

"We are currently working through the process of restoring access to this server and ensuring all our systems are as secure as possible."