Could Medibank customers get compensation for having their data stolen?

Law firm Maurice Blackburn has confirmed it is reviewing whether Medibank would be liable for legal action following the recent data hack.

Maurice Blackburn's principal lawyer Andrew Watson says the Medibank hack is one of the most serious data breaches seen in Australia. Source: AAP / Julian Smith

Key Points

• Maurice Blackburn is reviewing whether customers affected by the Medibank hack could be entitled to compensation.
• The data of almost 10 million current and past customers was accessed in the hack.
• The AFP has confirmed Russianhackers were behind the attack.

Health insurer Medibank could be facing legal action after the personal details of millions of its customers were stolen in a data breach.

After the health information of some of its customers were posted on the dark web, law firm Maurice Blackburn confirmed it was reviewing whether customers affected by the hack could be entitled to compensation.

The firm's principal lawyer Andrew Watson said the breach of data was one of the most serious seen in Australia.

"Companies that hold their customers' sensitive health information have an important obligation to make sure that information is safeguarded, commensurate with the sensitivity of that data," he said.

"Medibank have a heightened responsibility to put in place greater safeguards to secure the personal and health claim information it collected from its customers."

Data including names, phone numbers, Medicare numbers, and sensitive health information was taken by the hackers during the breach.

As the government looks for solutions to improve cyber security laws, Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil has flagged it could soon be illegal for companies to pay ransom demands to hackers should they be subject to a data breach.

"The way we're thinking about the reform task ... is a bunch of quick wins, things that we can do fast, and the standing up for the new police operation is one of those," she told the ABC's Insiders on Sunday.

"There are some really big policy questions that we're going to need to think about and consult on, and we're going to do that in the context of the cyber security strategy."

Federal police confirmed last week Russian hackers were behind the attack.

A 100-officer-strong, standing cybercrime operation targeting hackers will be led by the AFP and Australian Signals Directorate.

"We are not going to sit back while our citizens are treated this way and allow there to be no consequences for that," Ms O'Neil said.

"We are offensively going to find these people, hunt them down and debilitate them before they can attack our country."