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Summarised by Centrist
A suspected cyber breach has taken MediMap, one of New Zealand’s most widely used digital medication platforms, offline nationwide, forcing providers to revert to paper-based systems.
MediMap, used in residential aged care, disability services, hospices and community health settings, detected what it described as “unauthorised activity” on Sunday.
Director Geoffrey Sayer said some patients’ demographic records were incorrectly modified, including names, dates of birth, assigned prescribers, locations of care and resident status.
The company placed the platform into maintenance mode and engaged external cybersecurity experts.
Health New Zealand, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner and Police have been notified.
At this stage, MediMap says there is no evidence that medication charts or administration records have been altered, but investigations are ongoing.
With the system offline, facilities have activated contingency plans and returned to manual medication processes. The Aged Care Association says providers are using standard clinical safety procedures. Some cases require additional registered nurses to double-check prescriptions.
MediMap is now seeking a court injunction to prevent any unlawfully obtained data from being accessed, copied, shared or published online. It has not confirmed whether any personal data has been extracted or externally exposed.
Health New Zealand said the platform is privately owned and that responsibility for system security rests with the company. The Privacy Commissioner said altering personal information can constitute a serious privacy breach.
The scale of the breach and the number of affected patients remain unclear as investigations continue.
Read more over at RNZ and Chris Lynch Media
