Star Health hacker claims sending death threats and bullets to company CEO: 'next one will go in ur…'

The hacker who was responsible for leaking sensitive personal data, including name, address, phone numbers, medical reports and other data of 31 million customers of Star Health last year, has claimed responsibility for sending death threats and bullet cartridges to the company's chief executive and finance head, a report has said.

The hacker detailed these actions, described as reprisals against Star Health and Allied Insurance Company, in an email sent to news agency Reuters on March 31. According to the email sent by the hacker, known as “xenZen,” the bullet cartridges were concealed in two packages sent to Star Health's head office in Chennai in February.

Photographs included in the email sent to Reuters showed the packages addressed to CEO Anand Roy and CFO Nilesh Kambli. The packages reportedly had a note inside reading: “next one will go in ur and ur peoples head. tik tik tik.”

Why hacker target one of India’s largest health insurers
XenZen's claimed motive for targeting the executives was the company's alleged denial of medical claims to certain customers. In the March 31 email, the hacker referenced the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December, an event that drew attention to patient dissatisfaction with health insurers, and stated the threats were sent after being contacted by Star Health customers whose claims were denied.

The Reuters report said that Star Health’s chief legal officer issued a statement saying the company could not comment “due to an ongoing, highly sensitive criminal investigation” related to the data leak.

Star Health had previously initiated internal investigations into the data leak last year, which the company said followed a ransom demand of $68,000. The insurer also filed a lawsuit against xenZen and the messaging app Telegram last September for hosting the stolen customer data on chatbots, which have since been taken down.