Genea Fertility cyber attack: Trove of sensitive patient data leaked to dark web after IVF provider hacked

Hundreds of gigabytes of sensitive patient information have been leaked online after a cyber attack on a leading IVF provider.

Genea Fertility was on Wednesday granted a court-ordered injunction in a bid to prevent the misuse of patient data after ransomware group Termite claimed responsibility for the hack overnight.

It’s understood up to 700GB of private information allegedly harvested straight from Genea’s servers was published on the dark web.

That data includes a trove of information such as copies of passports, pathology reports, patients’ medical and fertility histories, addresses, contact details, Defence DA numbers, Medicare and private health fund numbers and more.

“We have obtained this injunction as part of our commitment to the protection of our patients, staff and partners’ information, and taking all reasonable steps in response to this incident to protect the impacted data and those most vulnerable,” Genea said in an updated statement on its website.

The injunction revealed a total 940.7GB of data was taken from Genea’s IT network and systems on February 14, but the company did not publicly comment on the cyber incident until February 19.

Following further investigation, the IVF clinic revealed on Monday it believes “the attacker may have accessed and taken personal information which we hold”.

“On 14 February 2025, we became aware of suspicious activity on our network. Following this, we promptly launched an investigation to determine the nature and scope of the activity. In the course of these investigations, Genea discovered that it had been impacted by a cyber security breach,” it said.

“At this stage there is no evidence that any financial information such as credit card details or bank account numbers have been impacted by this incident.”

It said the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner and the Australian Cyber Security Centre were notified, with meetings scheduled with the National Office of Cyber Security, the Australian Cyber Security Centre and other government departments to discuss the matter.

Genea Fertility has more than 20 locations nationwide, including one in Perth, with thousands of patients accessing a range of fertility and genetic services.

A Genea spokesperson would not confirm how many patients have been affected by the data breach.

“We are notifying all affected individuals and providing them with clear steps they can take to help protect their personal information. We have also set up a dedicated team to support all affected individuals,” the spokesperson said.

“This includes the support of IDCARE, Australia’s national identity and cyber support community service, to extend their specialist Case Management services to patients at no cost if they wish to seek further support.”

Termite ransomware has not set a ransom for the data and it remains unclear whether any further information will be published.