Victorian public servants hit by massive data theft
The work details of tens of thousands of Victorian public servants have been stolen from a government directory in a data breach, just days before Christmas.
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The work details of tens of thousands of Victorian public servants were stolen from a government directory in a data breach just days before Christmas.
An “unauthorised third party” downloaded part of the Victorian government employee directory, which includes staff names, positions, email and office addresses, office phone numbers and some mobile numbers.
The breach has been referred to Victoria Police, the Australian Cyber Security Centre and the Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner.
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An email sent to public servants, seen by the Herald Sun, said details of about 30,000 people had been downloaded, but the breach only included work-related information.
“No banking or financial information has been affected,” the email said.
“An investigation is currently under way to better understand the cause of the breach and identify opportunities to further strengthen security controls … This investigation is supported by the Australian Cyber Security Centre and other cyber security experts.
“There is no evidence that other Victorian government information or systems have been accessed without authorisation.”
The email said the directory appeared to be downloaded after an employee’s email account was compromised.
It warned staff they could expect an influx of “phishing, spam and social engineering attempts”, and urged them to be on the lookout for suspicious emails and phone calls.
The breach comes after the Herald Sun revealed in November that police were investigating another breach, in which the personal medical information of hundreds staff was put online.
Information about the state’s critical infrastructure — including incident control centres and communications towers — was also believed to have been breached.
Several government agencies were hit in that breach.
A Department of Premier and Cabinet spokeswoman said on Monday data security was taken “extremely seriously”.
“As the investigation remains ongoing it would be inappropriate for DPC to comment any further on technical aspects of the incident,” she said.
“The government will ensure any lessons from the investigation are put in place to better protect against breaches like this in the future.”
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