More than 13,000 extra employees targeted in cyber-attack on Frontier Software, review concludes

Transport workers, firefighters and police staff were among thousands more than first thought affected by a major government cyber attack, it’s been revealed.

More than 13,000 extra public servants — including executives, board members and SA Police officers — had their personal information stolen in a ransomware cyber-attack, a review has concluded.

The government has issued a formal breach notice to Frontier Software over the breach, which the previous government was made aware of in November last year.

Frontier Software is an external software provider that services the majority of government employees.

In a statement to parliament, Treasurer Stephen Mullighan said the results of a forensic review into the incident had recently been completed by Price Waterhouse Coopers.

Treasurer Stephen Mullighan. Picture Simon Cross

The former government in December announced about 80,000 state government employees had their information stolen, but the review found an extra 13,088 workers were also victims but had not been notified by the government

“These individuals were a mixture of former and current employees of the SA Police, Metropolitan Fire Service, Department for Infrastructure and Transport and state government executives and board members,” Mr Mullighan said.

“Now that the review has been completed, direct communications and updated material for those past and current employees impacted has been provided.”

Mr Mullighan said the attack was carried out by an overseas criminal organisation and, after the data was stolen, some files were posted to the dark web.

“Thankfully, following engagement by Frontier, the files were only accessible for less than 24 hours on the dark web,” he said.

“There is no information regarding any ransom which may have been paid or how Frontier managed engagement with the overseas cyber-criminals in relation to this attack.”

The type of information accessed varied, but included tax file numbers, first and last names, birthdays, employee numbers, bank account information, superannuation details and home addresses.

Mr Mullighan said the estimated cost of the review was originally $420,000, but he has been advised the total cost to government “may exceed three quarters of a million dollars by June 2022”.