Star Health Insurance Reportedly Confirms Being Target of a Cyberattack Last Month, Claims Lost Data

Star Health reportedly stated that a criminal complaint has been filed and regulatory authorities have been informed.

Written by Akash Dutta, Edited by Siddharth Suvarna | Updated: 10 October 2024 10:49 IST

Star Health Insurance Reportedly Confirms Being Target of a Cyberattack Last Month, Claims Lost Data

Photo Credit: Star Health

Star Health filed a lawsuit against Telegram after the platform was used to leak the company’s data

Highlights

Star Health reportedly did not share details of data stolen by hackers
The stolen data was said to be leaked using Telegram chatbots
At the time, the company refused to issue any statement

Star Health, one of the biggest health insurance companies in India, has reportedly confirmed that it was the target of a malicious cyberattack that led to bad actors getting access to “certain data” illegally. The incident was first reported last month, but the insurer refused to make any comments before an internal investigation. The company is said to have filed a formal criminal complaint and has informed the insurance and cybersecurity regulatory authorities. Notably, a report claimed that the hackers used Telegram chatbots to leak the company's data.

Star Health Reportedly Confirms Data Breach

The company told TechCrunch in a statement that it was indeed a target of a data breach incident. The acknowledgement comes almost two weeks after the incident was first reported. The Chennai-based insurance giant also highlighted that the hackers were able to gain access to “certain data”, however, it reportedly did not share details on if any customer data was breached.

Star Health reportedly stated that a forensic investigation of the incident is currently underway, which is being led by independent cybersecurity experts. The company is said to be working closely with the government and regulatory authorities in every stage of the investigation. Authorities concerning cybersecurity and regulatory departments have also been informed, the publication cited the company as saying.

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Last month, the cyberattack on Star Health allegedly resulted in a massive data breach. As per the report, personal data belonging to 31 million policyholders as well as more than 5.8 million insurance claims were stolen by the bad actors. The data was later said to be leaked via messaging platform Telegram.

Hackers were said to have used autonomous chatbots on the platform to leak the data. The data reportedly contained information such as names, phone numbers, addresses, tax details, copies of ID cards, test results and medical diagnoses.

Days later, the Indian insurer filed a lawsuit against Telegram for allegedly facilitating in leaking company's sensitive data. The Madras High Court ordered the instant messaging platform to block any chatbots and websites in India that made the data available online. Additionally, Star Health also filed a complaint against software giant Cloudflare for allegedly offering services to websites that were hosting the leaked data.

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Further reading: Star Health, Insurance, Cybersecurity, Cybercrime, Cyberattack, Hackers, Telegram

Akash Dutta Email Akash Dutta

Akash Dutta is a Senior Sub Editor at Gadgets 360. He is particularly interested in the social impact of technological developments and loves reading about emerging fields such as AI, metaverse, and fediverse. In his free time, he can be seen supporting his favourite football club - Chelsea, watching movies and anime, and sharing passionate opinions on food. More