SA Health patients caught up in data breach of third-party platform Personify Care

Thousands of South Australian public health patients are being contacted over a data breach of a third-party run portal. Key points: The SA government says the health information of 121 patients and the names and phone numbers of about 12,000 others was deleted by an "unauthorised third party" The data of SA Health patients was held by third-party provider Personify Care Health Minister Chris Picton says there is no evidence to suggest the data was copied or downloaded, and the deleted information has been restored The state government said "unintentional human error" by patient portal Personify Care allowed an "unauthorised third party" to delete a folder used to store patient documents uploaded to an online platform. Department of Health and Wellbeing chief executive, Dr Robyn Lawrence, said the folder contained the health information of 121 patients on "supervised medication protocols". Monash University cybersecurity professor Nigel Phair said statistics showed the health sector was the hardest hit by data breaches because it had the "juicer data". "The number one sector that gets hit with the most amount of data breaches is unsurprisingly is the health sector and that's been consistent through both the number and the amount," Professor Phair said.