Star Health, one of the largest health insurance companies in India, has reportedly confirmed that it was the target of a malicious cyber attack that resulted in bad actors illegally gaining access to “certain data”. The incident was first reported last month, but the insurer declined to make any comments pending an internal investigation. The company is said to have filed a formal criminal complaint and notified insurance and cyber security regulators. Namely, the report claims that hackers used Telegram chatbots to leak company data.

Star Health reportedly confirms the data breach

The company said in a statement to TechCrunch that it was indeed the target of a data breach incident. The admission comes nearly two weeks after the incident was first reported. The Chennai-based insurance giant also noted that hackers were able to gain access to “certain data,” but reportedly did not share details on whether customer data was breached.

Star Health reportedly stated that a forensic investigation into the incident is currently underway, led by independent cybersecurity experts. It said the company was working closely with the government and regulatory authorities at every stage of the investigation. Cybersecurity authorities and regulatory departments have also been notified, according to a company release.

Last month, a cyber attack on Star Health reportedly resulted in a massive data breach. According to the report, the miscreants stole personal information belonging to 31 million policyholders, as well as more than 5.8 million insurance claims. The data was later said to have been leaked through the messaging platform Telegram.

Hackers reportedly used autonomous chatbots on the platform to leak data. The data allegedly contained information such as names, phone numbers, addresses, tax information, copies of ID cards, test results and medical diagnoses.

A few days later, an Indian insurer filed a lawsuit against Telegram for allegedly enabling the leak of the company’s sensitive data. The Madras High Court ordered the instant messaging platform to block all chatbots and websites in India that made the data available online. In addition, Star Health has also filed a complaint against software giant Cloudflare for allegedly providing services to websites that hosted the leaked data.