Australian Clinical Labs says limited data accessed in SunDoctors breach

An Australian Clinical Labs cyberattack that affected its SunDoctors skin cancer clinic business resulted in limited unauthorized access to data and was separate from the group's main pathology business.

The healthcare provider told investors an investigation conducted with independent cybersecurity experts identified that a small volume of data was compromised during the incident, stating that there is currently no evidence that any systems outside of the SunDoctors network have been impacted.

The update adds more details to a previously acknowledged cyber event that triggered the deployment of technical containment and potentially affected data reviews. The company added that affected systems were contained once the incident was discovered and the investigation into the incident is ongoing.

The business has commenced the process of notifying potentially affected parties and has informed regulatory bodies of the incident, but did not mention how many individuals were involved or what types of data were compromised.

SunDoctors operates diagnosis and treatment of skin cancer clinics across the country and falls under the Australian Clinical Labs' health services business. The company confirmed that business activities continued throughout the incident response.

The event comes at a time when the health sector continues to face increased cybersecurity risks due to the nature of patient and personal data it holds. The 2025 IBM Cost of a Data Breach report highlighted the health industry as the most costly sector globally for data breaches, with an average cost of US$7.42M for each breach. The global average cost of a data breach was reported as US$4.4M.

For investors, the breach occurred against a backdrop of strong financial performance, with Australian Clinical Labs reporting revenues of A$741.3M in the year ending June 30 2025, compared to A$696.4M in the previous year, and net profit after tax was reported at A$32.4M, up from A$23.9M in the prior year. Half-year results released most recently show revenues at A$365.4M in the six months ending December 31 2025.

Australian Clinical Labs said the group's ongoing work on its cybersecurity measures and remediation activities are continuing as it completes its investigation of the SunDoctors cyberattack.

Source: Reuters

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