IVF patients' personal information stolen in a cyber security breach has been published on the dark web.
An investigation following the February 14 cyber attack on major IVF provider Genea has found patient management systems were accessed by an unauthorised third party
The company on Wednesday confirmed data taken from their systems appeared to have been "published externally by the threat actor".
"We understand that this development may be concerning for out patients for which we unreservedly apologise," it said in a statement.
The impacted systems contain a raft of personal information, including full names, emails, addresses, phone numbers, Medicare card numbers, private health insurance details, medical history, diagnoses, treatments, medications and prescriptions.
There was no evidence, for now, that hackers stole financial information such as credit card details or bank account numbers.
The company earlier on Wednesday was granted a court order to forbid any the hackers or any third parties who received the stolen information from accessing, using, disseminating or publishing the impacted data.
"We have obtained this injunction as part of our commitment to the protection of our patients, staff and partners' information, and taking all reasonable steps in response to this incident to protect the impacted data and those most vulnerable," the company said.
The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner and the Australian Cyber Security Centre have been notified of the cyber breach and Genea is continuing to engage with them.
The company was founded in 1986 by Professor Robert Jansen under the name Sydney IVF and has locations in NSW, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and the ACT.
It has offered to foot the bill for worried patients who want to use specialist service, IDCARE, to protect their personal information.
"Our teams of specialists, nurses and office support staff are working tirelessly to ensure that there is minimal disruption to your treatment, which is of our utmost priority and importance," it said.
Patients were also encouraged to be careful opening any suspicious emails, texts or phone calls and advised to vigilant to any other attempts of possible identity theft or fraud using their personal information.
