September 2024 witnessed an attack on India’s biggest private insurer, STAR Health, where the malicious actor used Telegram to compromise the insurer’s customer health records. Star Health admitted that they were under attack and has now informed that the cyber attacker demanded a sum of $68000 through an email addressed to the company’s managing director and chief executive.
Star Health holds a $4 billion market capitalization and has initialized an internal investigation against Telegram. The hacker identifies as xenZen, and he shared samples of compromised customer details on his website.
The statement was made in response to the clarification sought by the Stock exchanges of India; the shares of Star Health Insurance did not perform well post-listing in December 2021. After the news about this breach became public, its shares further declined by almost 11%, the company seems to be battling a reputational and business crisis.
There were some rumours alleging the involvement of Star Health’s chief security officer in this data leak. However, Star Health has officially investigated the matter and has not found any wrongdoings on Amarjeet Khanuja’s part.
Telegram has declined to share the account details or permanently ban accounts linked to the hacker – an individual dubbed xenZen – “despite multiple notices issued in this regard,” Star said on Saturday.
Star Health is exploring all the resources and tapping on cyber security agencies to seek help in dealing with the situation, but as of now, the company has not issued any emails or notifications to its customers regarding the breach.
