Australian security staff at G4S have private information stolen

An alarming amount of personal information has been stolen in another cyber attack on an Australian business, including tax file numbers and medical records.

Tax files numbers, bank account information and medical checks from Australian staff working at a security firm have been stolen and posted online in the latest nightmare cyber attack to hit the country.

It comes after the data of about 9.8 million customers were caught up in the cyber attack on Optus, which included 1.2 million customers that had at least one form of current and valid identification and personal information accessed by hackers.

Further, there were about 900,000 customers who had numbers from expired identification documents stolen, as well as personal information, Optus revealed.

Want to stream your news? Flash lets you stream 25+ news channels in 1 place. New to Flash? Try 1 month free. Offer ends 31 October, 2022 >

The cyber attack at G4S saw a huge amount of information stolen. Picture: Supplied

The latest attack occurred at security firm G4S, which provides prison services across Australia, with former and current employees alerted to the attack on Tuesday, reported The Guardian.

The company told staff that a “cyber incident” or “malware program” had allowed hackers to access the G4S systems across Australia and obtain data such as employee names, addresses, dates of birth, contact details and police and medical checks.

The attack also saw tax file numbers, bank account details, superannuation information, Medicare numbers and licence details stolen from the business.

Have a similar story? Continue the conversation | [e-mail]

A whopping 1.2 million customers had at least one form of current and valid identification and personal information accessed by hackers, Optus revealed. Picture: NCA Newswire/Gaye Gerard

G4S said it was working with the Australian Cyber Security Centre and said the company was providing support to impacted individuals, however it did not offer to pay to replace identification documents or provide credit monitoring.

Australian businesses are being inundated by cybersecurity incidents and are dealing with an average of over 55 alerts daily – the highest across the Asia Pacific region – according to a report from cybersecurity specialists Trellix which was formerly known as McAfee.

The research of cybersecurity professionals, including 1000 from Australia, found 60 per cent of respondents feel like they’re losing ground against cybercriminals.

Alarmingly, 85 per cent of respondents from Australian businesses reported they had lost up to 10 per cent in revenue due to security breaches in the last 12 months.

Over half of those surveyed said there was the need for their security models to be updated to predict, detect and respond to cybersecurity incidents in real time.

Additionally, 60 per cent admitted security threats are evolving so rapidly they’re struggling to keep up.

Telstra staff suffer data breach amid the Optus hack. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Nicki Connolly

Vicki Batka, senior vice president Asia Pacific and Japan at Trellix, said there is “growing and relentless attacks” from cybercriminals and Australian businesses need to realise that inefficient cybersecurity protection can impact their bottom line.

Security at Australian businesses has come under increasing scrutiny after the Optus hack was revealed.

This week, Telstra and NAB revealed the names and email addresses of current and former employees were accessed by hackers.

Up to 30,000 names and email addresses of past and present Telstra staff were uploaded to the same forum where the Optus breach was shared last week.

Originally published as Australian security staff at G4S have private information stolen