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Medibank has copped a grilling from shareholders at its annual general meeting as fallout continues from a massive data breach.
Executives on Wednesday stood by their call not to pay a ransom to Russian hackers who stole millions of customers' personal data. But shareholders asked chairman Mike Wilkins why the health insurer hadn't taken cyber security "as seriously as you should have".
The meeting comes a month after hackers stole personal information of the insurer's 9.7 million current and former customers.
The company confirmed to investors the up-front cost for the first half of the financial year would be $25m to $35m before factoring in legal and other expenses.
One "rather disappointed" shareholder asked if IT security would form part of the company's recently-announced external review, also wondering if the executive responsible would have their pay cut.
Mr Wilkins said executive remuneration would be taken care of at the end of the next financial year, but said pay would be linked to performance.
"The board is very well aware of the alignment between remuneration and outcomes," he said.
A representative of the Australian Shareholders Association asked when specific accountability would be taken for the breach, but Mr Wilkins said that would come after the review was complete.
The company has starting contacting about 480,000 customers it believes had their health data stolen.
"Safeguarding our customers' data is a responsibility we take very seriously and we will continue to support all people who have been impacted by this crime," Mr Wilkins said in his opening address.
"There is no doubt that this crime is having an enormous impact on our customers and our community. This is a shocking crime, the size and scale of which we have never seen before."
But Mr Wilkins said paying a $US9.7m ransom was never an option and would have supercharged the hacking industry.
"There was a limited chance paying a ransom would ensure the return of our customers' data and prevent it from being published," he said.
"The advice we have had is that to pay a ransom could have had the opposite effect and encouraged the criminal to directly extort our customers."
The hackers had indicated they'd watch the meeting before firing off another tranche of stolen data.
"We'll announce that next portion of data we'll publish at (sic) Friday, bypassing this week completely in a hope something meaningful happened on Wednesday," the hackers wrote in an update.
Medibank CEO David Koczkar said the company had started the "incredibly complex" process of contacting half a million customers whose sensitive data had been taken.
"This ongoing work continues and requires our people to analyse millions of records across numerous applications and match customer data from multiple sources," he said.
A 100 officer-strong cybercrime operation targeting the hackers will be led by the Australian Federal Police and Australian Signals Directorate.
Data including names, phone numbers, Medicare numbers and sensitive health information was taken by the hackers during the breach.
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Two people have been killed in an explosion in Przewodow, a village in eastern Poland near the border with Ukraine as NATO allies investigate reports the blast resulted from Russian missiles.
The Associated Press earlier cited a senior United States intelligence official as saying the blast was due to Russian missiles crossing into Poland.
But the Pentagon said it could not confirm that account.
The White House also said it could not confirm reports coming out of Poland and was working with the Polish government to gather more information.
Russia's defence ministry denied reports Russian missiles had hit Polish territory, describing them as "a deliberate provocation aimed at escalating the situation".
It added in a statement: "No strikes on targets near the Ukrainian-Polish state border were made by Russian means of destruction."
The Kremlin did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has called an urgent meeting of a government committee for national security and defence affairs, government spokesman Piotr Muller said on Twitter.
Latvian Deputy Prime Minister Artis Pabriks said on Twitter Russia "fired missiles which target not only Ukrainian civilians but also landed on NATO territory in Poland".
Officials from Norway, Lithuania and Estonia - members of the NATO defence alliance - said they were trying to find out more.
"This is a very serious incident but much remains unclear," Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt said, according to Norwegian news agency NTB.
Members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) are committed to collective defence and the possibility the Polish explosion resulted from an intentional or accidental Russian strike raised alarm.
"Every inch of #NATO territory must be defended!," Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said on Twitter.
Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu said, according to BNS newswire: "We are discussing with our allies how to respond to what happened jointly and decisively."
Polish Radio ZET reported earlier that two stray missiles hit Przewodow, killing two people, without giving any more details.
"Firefighters are on the spot. It's not clear what has happened," said Lukasz Kucy, an officer on duty at a firefighters' post near the Polish village.
Russia was pounding cities across Ukraine with missiles on Tuesday, in attacks Kyiv said were the heaviest wave of missile strikes in almost nine months of war.
Some hit Lviv, which is less than 80km from the border with Poland.
Muller told reporters later on Tuesday the committee was convened due to the "crisis situation", adding relevant information would be presented to the public later.
He called on media not to publish "unverified information" in the meantime.
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The United States and Western allies say they are investigating but can not confirm reports a blast in NATO member Poland resulted from stray Russian missiles - a claim Russia's defence ministry has denied.
Two people were killed in an explosion in Przewodow, a village in eastern Poland about 12 kilometres from the border with Ukraine, firefighters said.
The Associated Press earlier cited a senior US intelligence official as saying the blast was due to Russian missiles crossing into Poland.
Polish Radio ZET attributed the explosion to two stray missiles, without giving more details.
Members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) are committed to collective defence, so a Russian strike on Poland could risk widening the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, which began with Moscow's invasion in February.
But in Washington, the Pentagon, White House and US State Department said they could not corroborate the report and were working with the Polish government to gather more information.
The State Department said the report was "incredibly concerning".
Germany and Canada said they were monitoring the situation and Norway said it was seeking details.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russian missiles hit Poland in a "significant escalation" of the conflict.
He did not provide evidence of the strikes.
Russia's defence ministry denied Russian missiles hit Polish territory, describing reports as "a deliberate provocation aimed at escalating the situation".
It added in a statement: "No strikes on targets near the Ukrainian-Polish state border were made by Russian means of destruction."
The Kremlin did not immediately respond to requests for comments.
Russia was pounding cities across Ukraine with missiles on Tuesday in attacks Kyiv said were the heaviest wave of missile strikes in almost nine months of war.
Some hit Lviv, which is less than 80km from the border with Poland.
Fabrice Pothier, former head of policy planning in the NATO secretary-general's office, told Sky TV that it was too early to say whether the possible strike was intentional or accidental.
But the events were enough to trigger NATO treaty articles under which Poland would call a NATO meeting "to consult each other, to assess the threat and to take concrete action", Pothier said.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has called an urgent meeting of a government committee for national security and defence affairs, government spokesman Piotr Muller said on Twitter.
Latvian Deputy Prime Minister Artis Pabriks said the situation was "unacceptable" and it could lead to NATO providing more anti-aircraft defences to Poland and Ukraine, a view Pothier endorsed.
"Every inch of #NATO territory must be defended!," Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said on Twitter.
Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu said, according to BNS newswire: "We are discussing with our allies how to respond to what happened jointly and decisively."
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Medibank will hold its annual general meeting on Wednesday in the middle of the huge data hack that has left the company in turmoil.
The board is expected to face a grilling from shareholders at the meeting, a month on from hackers stealing personal information from all of the health insurer's 9.7 million former and current customers.
Medibank shares sat at $3.55 before the hack and dropped as low as $2.75, as directors refused to pay a $US9.7 million (almost $A15 million) ransom.
Shareholders are expected to vote on performance bonuses for Medibank's executives and re-elect directors.
The hackers, who police said late last week were from Russia, have indicated they'll be watching the meeting to see if the insurer opts to take a different course regarding the stolen data.
Releasing their latest batch of stolen information - 500 records for people's mental illness diagnoses - the hackers said they wouldn't post more until the meeting was over.
"There is some more records for everybody to know," they earlier wrote in an update.
"We'll announce that next portion of data we'll publish at Friday, bypassing this week completely in a hope something meaningful happened on Wednesday."
A 100 officer-strong, standing cybercrime operation targeting the hackers will be led by the Australian Federal Police and Australian Signals Directorate.
Data including names, phones numbers, Medicare numbers and sensitive health information were taken by the hackers during the breach.
The insurer could yet face legal action, with law firm Maurice Blackburn confirming it was reviewing if affected customers could be eligible for compensation.
"Companies that hold their customers' sensitive health information have an important obligation to make sure that information is safeguarded, commensurate with the sensitivity of that data," principal lawyer Andrew Watson said.
"Medibank have a heightened responsibility to put in place greater safeguards to secure the personal and health claim information it collected from its customers."
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