New Zealand’s Health Data Under Siege: Major Delays in Cyber Attack Notifications Spark Outrage

By Lions Roar News National Desk

NEW ZEALAND (January 12, 2026) — New Zealand’s healthcare sector is reeling from a series of massive data breaches, with the country’s largest private medical oncology provider, Canopy Healthcare, and the widely used Manage My Health app both confirming significant cyber attacks.

Questions are now being raised about transparency after it was revealed that some cancer patients were only notified of a breach six months after it occurred.

🚨 Case 1: Canopy Healthcare’s 6-Month Silence

Canopy Healthcare, which operates 24 diagnostic clinics and two private breast surgical centers, has admitted that an unauthorized actor gained access to its systems on July 18, 2025. However, many patients were left in the dark until December 2025.

• The Breach: Cybersecurity experts confirmed that an unauthorized person likely copied data from one of the company’s servers used by the administration team.
• Sensitive Info Stolen: Canopy noted that a “small number” of bank account numbers used for payments or refunds may have been accessed.
• The Delay: One distraught husband reported that his wife, a breast cancer patient, only received an official letter regarding the “cyber event” on December 12—nearly half a year after the hack.
• Company Stance: Canopy claims the incident is now “contained” and is directly notifying affected individuals, though they maintain that bank account information is “highly protected” and difficult for hackers to exploit.

🔒 Case 2: Manage My Health Ransomware Hit

In a separate but equally alarming incident, Manage My Health, a platform used by 1.8 million New Zealanders, confirmed a major security breach in late December.

• Scale of Impact: Between 6% and 7% of all registered users (approximately 125,000 people) are believed to have been affected.
• Regional Crisis: Over 80,000 of the affected patients are based in Northland, where Health NZ uses the app to share critical hospital discharge summaries, outpatient letters, and referral notifications.
• Current Status: The company has begun sending notification emails to over half of the impacted patients. Users not affected can now see a confirmation message within their ManageMyHealth app.
• The Fix: Operators say IT experts have provided “independent confirmation” that the flaws in the app’s code have been fixed.