Hackers have attacked Melbourne Inner City Management and stolen private details of clients

The private information of potentially thousands of people has been stolen by an unknown hacker in a major attack on a Melbourne company.

Thousands of people have had their private information, stolen by an unknown hacker – including sensitive financial details, where they live and their passport number.

Melbourne Inner City Management Pty Ltd was hacked on November 15 with a “number of files and databases” accessed, but the property services company still can’t say what exactly was taken or even the extent of the attack.

An email from MICM’s managing director Keith Bayliss informed clients of the massive breach on Wednesday and urged them to be vigilant about identity theft and to keep a close eye on their bank accounts.

In a sign of how serious the hack was, Mr Bayliss also warned clients to request a copy of their credit report to check for “unauthorised loans or applications”.

It said the company received alerts from a cybersecurity firm about unusual activity on server on November 15. The server was shut down and discovered sensitive files had been compromised.

But despite three weeks passing, they cannot say what has been taken or whose information has been accessed.

Thousands of people may have had their private details hacked.

It email did not say why it had taken so long to alert clients to the possible theft of such sensitive information, and Mr Bayliss refused to comment when asked about the hack by the Herald Sun.

MICM didn’t know the extent of the damage “due to the nature of the attack”.

“However, the investigation did confirm that the attacker obtained unauthorised access to a number of files and databases, which may potentially include the following information about you: name, contact detail including home address; and information provided by you as part of the managing authority sign-up including the details of property, identity and proof of residency information such as passport and drivers licence information, bank statements and other supporting personal documentation,” the email said.

The IT network had been secured and there was ongoing work to “defend against any possible future breaches”, the email said.

Melbourne Inner City Management is a prominent agency based in Southbank, Melbourne, with multiple offices, so the breach likely impacts thousands of people.

Mr Bayliss said the company had reported the incident to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

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