The New Zealand Herald is reporting that a group claiming to be responsible for the Waikato District Health Board cyberattack claims it has obtained sensitive information including confidential patient notes, staff details and financial information.
This follows the board's entire system crashing last Tuesday as a result of a cyberattack, which has been described as "the biggest in New Zealand's history."
This resulted in several surgeries and clinics across five hospitals having to postpone or cancel appointments unless it was an emergency.
Waikato DHB chief executive Kevin Snee said he would not comment on the email made by the group claiming responsibility for the cyberattack as it was a matter for the police.
Snee declined to comment on whether there had been any communication between the board and hackers, or on whether patient information had been accessed.
"There is no evidence, at this point, that any data has been accessed and Waikato DHB is continuing to work with cybersecurity experts," Snee says.
Several hours after Snee made those comments an email was sent to some media organisations, including the Herald, claiming that patients' information had been accessed.
"We stole documents and he knew it ... We have a lot of personal info of employees and patients, financial information, etc," the purported hacker claimed.
"We give them 1 more chance to contact us. 1 more day."