Three law firms have joined forces to launch a data breach complaint against health insurance company Medibank.

This comes after the personal data of about 9.7 million customers was leaked by hackers last year.

Maurice Blackburn Lawyers, Bannister Law Class Actions and Centennial Lawyers have united for the case.

Let's take a look at what the law firms are seeking and who will benefit.

What is the purpose of the action?

About 9.7 million current and former customers had their data accessed by criminals.

The law firms are seeking compensation for Medibank and ahm health insurance customers who had their names, emails, mental health information and other data leaked.

A complaint was lodged with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner by Maurice Blackburn in November.

The law firms say they will now pursue the complaint seeking compensation for those affected by the data breach.

Bannister Law Class Actions principal Charles Bannister says they believe the breach was a "betrayal" and a breach of the Privacy Act.

He says it exposed a "lack of safeguards" and Medibank had "failed policyholders".

The firms say they have "tens of thousands of Medibank customers" registered for the class action.

Maurice Blackburn has also launched an investigation into a class action against Optus following its data breach first reported in September.

How long could it take and how will it work?

It is expected this case will be quicker than a traditional adversarial class action.

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