Phone numbers, education details stolen in RACGP cyber security breach

Doctors’ phone numbers were among members’ details stolen by hackers in a cyber breach at the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners.

The Royal Australian College of General Practicioners was hit by a cyber security breach.

A top medical college has been hit by a cyber attack, with hackers stealing information including doctors’ phone numbers and education details. 

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners – which represents GPs across Australia – confirmed they had a “cyber security breach” earlier this month after questions from the Herald Sun. 

In a statement, the RACGP said the attack was a “phishing incident” on Tuesday February 13, and it was discovered “early” the next day. 

“Phishing” is a type of cyber attack where hackers trick someone into handing over sensitive information, such as by impersonating a legitimate organisation’s website or email, so that the user enters their real log in details into a fake system. 

A doctor’s phone numbers and educational details were stolen in the breach.

The college said their “substantial review” had not found any patient personal data that was leaked, and the breach has been reported to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. 

“The incident affected two RACGP employee email accounts and occurred late on Tuesday 13 February 2024,” the statement said. 

“Our security systems quickly caught and contained the issue.

“The data that was involved included information relating to the accreditation process of some Victorian medical practices for training, some additional data relating to completion of professional development (CPD), email and phone numbers of some members and third parties, and contact information for some medical practices.”

The statement said members had been informed and they were “continuing to notify all affected parties, third parties and practices and advised them to stay alert to any suspicious emails, phone calls, texts, or other attempts to use this information”.

“Our investigations are continuing. We have also commenced a thorough analysis of our security systems and processes to reduce the risk of this happening again.”

While the college does not treat individual patients, as a representative body they advocate for GPs and play a significant role in GP training and accreditation. 

The health sector remains a popular target for data breaches, with statistics from OAIC, released last week, revealing the health sector reported more data breaches (104) to the regulator than any other industry in the last six months of 2023.