Medibank hack: Personal data stolen in new cyber attack

Names, addresses, date of birth, Medicare numbers and phone numbers, are among the sensitive information that has been taken, Medibank confirmed on Thursday.

"Medibank has been contacted by a criminal claiming to have stolen 200GB of data," the company said in a statement.

"The criminal [group] has provided a sample of records for 100 policies, which we believe has come from our ahm [health insurance] and international student systems."

Policy numbers and some claims data was also taken by hackers during the breach.

"The criminal claims to have stolen other information, including data related to credit card security, which has not yet been verified by our investigations," Medibank said.

The data breach is being investigated by the Australian Federal Police and the number of people impacted by the cyber attack is expected to grow.

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"I unreservedly apologise for this crime which has been perpetrated against our customers, our people, and the broader community," Medibank CEO David Koczkar said.

"I know that many will be disappointed with Medibank and I acknowledge that disappointment.

"Medibank will remain open and transparent and will continue to provide comprehensive updates as often as we can and need to."

It comes a month after a separate cyber attack on Optus when the personal details of millions of customers were stolen.

Medibank will contact affected customers and said it would never contact customers requesting passwords or other sensitive information.

Medibank customers can call 13 23 31, ahm customers should call 13 42 46 for help.

A trading halt in Medibank shares will continue until further notice.

More to come.