Star Health, India’s largest health insurance company, said on Saturday it had received a ransom demand of $68,000 from cyber hackers in connection with the leak of customer data and medical records.

Star, which has a market capitalization of roughly $4 billion, has been battling a reputational and business crisis since Reuters reported on Sept. 20 that a hacker used Telegram chatbots and a website to leak sensitive customer data, including tax information and health claim documents.

The company, whose shares fell 11%, launched internal investigations and took legal action against Telegram and the hackers, whose website continues to share samples of Star customer data.

Star, which previously said it was the “victim of a targeted malicious cyber attack,” revealed for the first time on Saturday that in August “a threat demanded a $68,000 ransom in an email” to the company’s CEO and chief executive.

The statement came after Indian stock exchanges sought clarification from Star on Friday regarding a Reuters report that the company was investigating allegations that its chief security officer was involved in the data leak.

The Star reiterated on Saturday that it had not found culpability on the part of official Amarjeet Khanuja, although an internal investigation is ongoing.

Telegram has refused to share account information or permanently ban accounts linked to the hacker — a person named xenZen — “despite multiple notices issued in this regard,” the Star said on Saturday.

Star said it had “sought the help” of India’s cyber security authorities to “help us identify” the hacker.

Telegram did not respond to a request for comment.

The Dubai-based messenger app previously said it had removed chatbots when Reuters flagged them for the platform.

© Thomson Reuters 2024

(This story was not edited by NDTV staff and was auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)