New Zealand's Manage My Health breach inquiry shows avoidable security gaps
By Sean Maguire ( May 29, 2026, 06:43 GMT | Insight) -- A major cyber breach at New Zealand’s Manage My Health portal exposed nearly 100,000 patients’ sensitive medical records due to basic security failures, not a sophisticated attack, the country's privacy watchdog has found. The New Zealand privacy commissioner announced plans to issue compliance notices to both Manage My Health after identifying weak safeguards and a flaw that allowed one account to access thousands of others. A second phase of the inquiry is set to examine consent, data handling and notification issues.A mass data breach that hit New Zealand’s Manage My Health patient portal was not the result of a sophisticated cyberattack but a largely preventable failure of basic safeguards across the health system, the country’s privacy watchdog has found....
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