NZ Engine

Source: Radio New Zealand

The chief executive of beleaguered patient portal Manage My Health says he is open to standing down if required after it “dropped the ball”.

Vino Ramayah told RNZ hackers who have seized hundreds of thousands of files from more than 120,000 patients “got in through the front door”.

He takes full responsibility, he said.

“That’s something for after the dust settles, whether I’m the current or continue to be the CEO,” he said.

“I’m not unprepared to step down if there’s a better person who can do a better job than I did.”

Ramayah described the major breach as a “password accessed intrusion”.

“They came in through the front door using a valid user password.”

The deadline for a $60,000 ransom was initially thought to expire early on Tuesday morning, but Ramayah confirmed that deadline has now shifted.

“From what we have understood from the tracking and the kind of announcements in the dark web which we are monitoring the deadline is 5am on Friday.”

But he said deadlines had come and gone “many times” and out of principal he would not comment on what people put up on the dark web.

“And we really don’t know who’s telling the truth and who isn’t telling the truth. But our intention is to do the right thing.”

The chief executive would not be drawn on whether Manage My Health has discussed internally whether it was prepared to pay the ransom.

“I am not inclined to make any statement in that regard because it’s an ongoing investigation, I don’t want to jeopardise any investigations and I will make no comment in that regard,” he said.

When asked again, Ramayah said: “As I have said here, I’m not going to comment on that”.

He also would not say if Manage My Health had been in any negotiations those who took the patient data.

“As I said, I do not wish to comment on this investigation or any activities with any nefarious people, so I’ll leave it at that.”

Ramayah said Manage My Health was itself the victim of crime.

He said patients should trust the company “even though we have dropped the ball”.

Ramayah told RNZ he personally was aggrieved and distressed by the breach.

His own medical records were among those impacted, he said.

“And so is lots of my friends and families. I am deeply distressed that this is out there and this has happened.”

“The doctor – patient relationship was sacrosanct,” he said.

“I think the main point is there has been a crime, we have tried to do our best, as you know, we’ve had staff working around the clock since this incident with very little sleep and we are trying our best to contain the damage and the pain and anxiety patients feel – that is pretty hard for us as an organisation.”

In its latest online update, Manage My Health said it had started contacting GP practices which have affected patients.

Information on appointments and prescriptions were not accessed and the portal is now secure, it said.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

• The Ministry of Education has been reviewing its school bus services in Queenstown with seven routes set to be redesigned from Term 2, 2026, one cancelled, one added and 11 retained on an ‘interim’ basis.
• One principal says about 90 students in Fernhill will lose access to their bus.
• Otago Regional Council says the public network may not have the capacity at peak times.
• Emails released under the OIA show schools and parents warned public buses were not a safe or practical alternative.

The Ministry of Education has decided to keep most of Queenstown’s school buses for now, despite finding most students are not eligible for the free services.

It signalled last year that routes could be cut where public buses already exist – sparking pushback from parents and principals worried about student safety and attendance.

The ministry said seven routes would be redesigned and 11 would continue on an interim basis from Term 2, 2026, until it found a long-term fix.

One school bus route to KingsView School and Remarkables Primary School would be cancelled, and one new route would be added servicing Shotover School, it said.

Ministry of Education school transport group manager James Meffan said many students using ministry-funded services in Queenstown were not eligible, either because there was public transport already available, or they were not attending their closest school.

“We are continuing to work with Otago Regional Council on a longer term, sustainable solution for these students and expect to provide an update next year,” he said.

The interim services would support a “smooth transition” for those ineligible students, he said.

However, Queenstown Primary School principal Fiona Cavanagh said the changes would leave dozens of students living in the suburb of Fernhill without access to a school bus.

Their bus route had been redesigned to pick up students in the Bob’s Cove area instead, she said.

Cavanagh said she had asked the ministry to revisit that decision, saying the bus could collect Fernhill students with only a small diversion.

“We have approximately 90 students that are currently catching a school bus from Fernhill. Fernhill is on a hill, and the roads are very busy and public transport would be busy as well,” she said.

“So for our students to catch a bus, a public bus in that area, it just wouldn’t work.”

The public buses stopped in central Queenstown rather than taking students directly to school, she said.

“We are asking the ministry to consider them being dropped off outside our school, rather than in town, because we’re a very unique community in terms of nightclubs, people around in the main city centre, all hours of the day. I don’t want my students to be exposed to that.”

Meanwhile, Otago Regional Council said it did not believe there was enough capacity on the public bus network at peak times, based on its understanding of the number of students affected by the proposals.

It was urging parents in the Queenstown district to plan ahead when using public transport to get their children to school.

Regional Planning and Transport general manager Anita Dawe said the council would work closely with the ministry and affected schools to make sure parents had information about the availability of public buses.

The council was not able to replace school bus services as they were currently delivered, she said.

“Some schools are not on public bus routes; so we expect to receive requests to redesign routes or add in special school term bus services. Currently, we’re not in a position to do this, due to resource constraints, both financially and in terms of the availability of buses and drivers,” she said.

Parents raise safety and cost concerns

The ministry’s review of Queenstown school bus services sparked at least 22 emails to Education Minister Erica Stanford and Southland MP Joseph Mooney from concerned community members last year.

The emails, released under the Official Information Act, showed parents were nervous about their primary-aged children using public buses without adult supervision – especially those without mobile phones.

One parent detailed concerns about their children crossing two busy highways to reach a public bus stop, while another said public buses were often cancelled.

“This will leave students on the side of the road with no way of knowing where the bus is or with means to contact their parents,” they wrote.

Another writer said paying for public buses would place extra financial pressure on families.

“Families with two children are paying $6 a day on transport to and from school. Over the course of a year, this adds up to $1140, which is an unreasonable cost for many households,” they said.

Taking time out of work to drive children to school was no better, other parents wrote.

“I need to work to survive and how can I do that if the alternative to the public bus is driving them in and out for school every day? That is just not possible!” one said.

“Less time working means less tax revenue. Are we really saving by cutting the school bus?” another said.

One parent said the changes could also worsen traffic congestion, already a major issue in Queenstown.

Mooney summarised the concerns he had received and wrote to Stanford seeking her support “in ensuring that the Ministry fully understands the implications of any decision to remove school buses in Queenstown”.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Netsafe is warning people to be extra cautious with emails they receive including their private information, as hackers threaten to release more than 400,000 stolen health documents.

They took the files from the online portal Manage My Health, and 120,000 people are affected.

The Tuesday morning deadline for Manage My Health to pay the US$60,000 ransom passed without the files being publicly shared, but unverified reports appeared to put a new deadline at 5am on Friday.

Manage My Health has identified general practices whose patients have had their private health information breached, but it is not yet clear when those patients will be told.

Netsafe chief online safety officer Sean Lyons said it’s difficult to know what to watch out for while it’s unclear what’s been stolen.

But he said people should have a “raised level of suspicion” about any communication containing their private data.

“Even names, addresses, dates of birth, family members, we hear talk about maybe even scans of passport details,” he said.

Hackers could include that information in an email and claim to be their GP, Manage My Health, or another agency, Lyons said.

“So that kind of … ‘I must know who you are because I hold your NHI number, or I know your address and date of birth, therefore I must be from the agency that I say I am’,” he said.

“So it really is being extra cautious around anything that contains your personal information and asking for more, for money, for more information.”

Lyons said dodgy emails may also apply pressure on people, like giving deadlines for a response or payment, or threatening people that they’re at risk of prosecution or breaking a law.

“Don’t give in to that pressure, contact the agency that somebody says they’re from directly, don’t use any of the communication methods, numbers, email addresses, whatever that they give you.”

People could also contact Netsafe for advice if they are unsure, he said.

Anyone who Manage My Health says has been affected by the data breach has the right to ask the company for more information, Lyons said.

“It’s important that we know what it is that we should be looking out for, to what extent that information of ours has been breached, and what we might need to do to … shore up our privacy position based on it.”

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

It appears the deadline given by the Manage My Health hackers demanding a US$60,000 ransom for hundreds of thousands of stolen medical files could now be later in the week.

A timeline had been set for about 5am on Tuesday, but the hackers have not released any further data.

Unverified reports now appear to put the new deadline at 5am on Friday morning.

RNZ has approached police for comment.

Manage My Health said late on Monday that the ransom demand was a matter for police, and it would not be making any comment about a ransom while an investigation was ongoing.

The platform apologised for pain and anxiety caused to health providers and patients, and acknowledged it could have communicated better.

“However, our priority was to secure patient data and work on the accuracy of all information before providing it to practices and patients.”

It said it will publish daily updates with all the information it can share.

Health Minister Simeon Brown has announced an urgent review into the breach.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand