14 January 2019 - Chinese companies are required by law to obey directives from Beijing's intelligence agencies. So why would our regulators permit a giant Australian healthcare provider that is privy to highly sensitive records on hundreds of thousands of Australians to be acquired by a Chinese company?
The Jangho Group, a Shanghai-based building supplies company, wants to take over Healius, an Australian company that operates 2,400 pathology centres and 70 medical centres, and partners with about 1,500 GPs and other health specialists.
Security agencies around the world have noticed an alarming spike of cyberattacks aimed at health records, with state-based actors in China the leading suspects. Last July, it was reported that 1.5 million medical records were stolen in Singapore in a cyberattack experts believe came from state-based hackers in China.