27 August 2019

A Capital & Coast DHB staff member has fallen victim to an email phishing scam that has seen thousands of emails sent from their address to email addresses across New Zealand and internationally.

No private or patient information has been compromised.

The staff member’s email address was immediately locked down to prevent further emails being sent, and the scam has been blocked by the DHB’s ICT systems.

Phishing and email scams are growing increasingly sophisticated. Capital & Coast DHB is a large organisation with more than 6000 staff, and its mail filter blocks around 12,500 spam or malicious emails each day.

“This incident was a case of human – rather than system – error, and we remain confident in the robust security measures and protocols that protect our systems and data,” said chief digital officer Tracy Voice.

“As a precaution, however, we have further enhanced our security measures and protocols. We will also strengthen our regular education for staff about these sorts of attacks and how to remain safe while using email and the internet.”

While these emails have been stopped, anyone who is uncertain of an email received from a ‘ccdhb.org.nz’ address should not respond – rather, contact the DHB by phone on 04 385 5999 to confirm that the email is legitimate.

CCDHB will never send an email requesting personal or private information, account numbers or passwords.

For our latest news, visit www.ccdhb.org.nz

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