A landmark fine imposed after hundreds of thousands of pathology patients had their details leaked has been seen as a "vivid reminder" to corporations about protecting private data.

Medlab Pathology was hit with a cyber attack and ransomware demand by a malicious actor known as the Quantum Group in February 2022.

About 86 gigabytes of data was taken and published on the dark web four months later, including the personal and health details of more than 223,000 individuals.

Medlab's parent firm Australian Clinical Labs was sanctioned by the Federal Court on Wednesday, receiving a $5.8 million fine in a landmark decision that is the first of its kind.

Justice John Halley found the company failed to protect the personal data of patients and did not conduct a proper assessment of whether th

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