Quarter of Tasmania’s population hacked by Russians, says Premier Jeremy Rockliff

Up to a quarter of Tasmanians may have had personal data stolen by Russian-linked hackers, the state’s Premier has suggested.

Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff. Picture: Chris Kidd

Up to a quarter of Tasmanians may have had personal data stolen by Russian-linked hackers, the Premier has suggested.

Jeremy Rockliff on Tuesday said the scale of the hack of Education Department data handled by third-party transfer system GoAnywhere MFT had emerged after a “very complex analysis”.

Asked how many Tasmanians were affected by the data breach – which includes names and addresses, including of schoolchildren, as well as some bank details – Mr Rockliff said this was being “worked through”.

“My information is 145,683 emails have been sent to people that have had a potential breach (of their data),” Mr Rockliff said.

An additional 2500 people had been informed via mail of the ­potential theft of data, and a further 377 told by telephone.

Mr Rockliff said about 16,000 documents had been released ­online by the hackers.

Cybersecurity expert CyberCX has been hired to assist the government in understanding and responding to the attack.

The data was collected by various agencies controlled by the Department of Education, Children and Young People and was stolen in March by Russian-linked cyber criminals.

Agencies affected include the Teachers Registration Board, ­Office of the Education Registrar, Office of Tasmanian Assessment, Standards and Certification, Commissioner for Children and Young People, Government Education and Training International and Libraries Tasmania.

The department has said the data could include bank accounts, and children’s names, addresses, school name, reference numbers, homeroom and year group, and TAFE students’ dates of birth. Mr Rockliff said “no stone would be left unturned” in investigating and responding to the breach.

While no further data had been released in recent days, Tasmanians potentially affected “need to be vigilant”.

“I am not aware of any demand for a ransom,” Mr Rockliff said, adding that he was also unaware of anyone having money taken from bank accounts.

He promised a “very thorough review” of the government’s cyber security protections.

The government is also under fire over a letter sent by Police Commissioner Donna Adams and chief bureaucrat Jenny Gale to news organisations and MPs urging them to curtail coverage of the massive data breach.

Labor has accused the government of “serious mismanagement” of the data breach. Opposition technology spokeswoman Jen Butler questioned why the information was not encrypted or password-protected.

“Labor has asked on numerous occasions how widespread the government’s use of Go­Anywhere MFT was, but all we’ve received is radio silence,” Ms ­Butler said.

“Why wasn’t this information end-to-end encrypted and where is the Education Minister Roger Jaensch to provide guidance and leadership to those families impacted?” she said.

“Every day the Liberals seem to find a new way to mismanage this crisis. Premier Rockliff is responsible for his ministers and right now they’re failing Tasmanians,” she said.

Those affected have been advised to be watchful for any “suspicious financial activity or attempted scams”.

Mr Rockliff said anyone who believed they might have been ­affected by the cyber attack should call 1800 567 567.