Tasmania government Cl0p hack: Madeleine Ogilvie unable to confirm what information may have been compromised

The Opposition has lashed the Tasmanian Government for its handling of a potentially serious data breach they knew about for nearly a week before informing the public. LATEST >>

Minister for Science and Technology Madeleine Ogilvie speaks to the media outside the Executive Building in Hobart on Monday, April 3, 2023.

The state government is unable to say what information a hacked third-party file transfer service handled on its behalf.

Information technology provider GoAnywhere is one of 130 organisations apparently breached by Russian hackers.

Tasmanian government information is listed as being among the victims of the group Cl0p which has apparently gained access to data handled by GoAnywhere — which managed the transfer of data between large enterprises.

Ms Ogilvie was on Monday unable to say what information the company handled on behalf of the government.

“That’s a technical question and I will get the answer for you but it is my understanding that the third party provider transfers information. It’s not a storage system,” she said.

“But I’m not a technical person and that I will need to confirm.”

She said there was no evidence yet that any government information has been accessed — although that could change.

Minister for Science and Technology Madeleine Ogilvie speaks to the media outside the Executive Building in Hobart on Monday, April 3, 2023.

“No Tasmanian information has been released. This is not about holding information, this is about information that moves around between providers,” she said.

“The information that we have within state government is protected by our cyber security team. Our cyber security team is doing a deep and robust investigation.

“We understand no information has been provided or has been released. However, that is not to say things might not change in the future.”

Shadow Minister for ICT, Science and Technology Jen Butler criticised the government’s handling of the saga, calling it a breach of the State Government’s duty of care to Tasmanians.

“Tasmanians are still in the dark as to whether or not their personal information has been compromised,” Ms Butler said.

“Tas ICT has not even been briefed yet by the Government.

“We have put in a request for an urgent briefing. We are yet to hear back from the Minister.

“This is a breach of the State Government’s duty of care to Tasmanians, and it is not appropriate for this failing Minister to downplay the seriousness of the situation.”

It is the second serious data breach of Tasmanian government information handled by a third party in recent years.

In 2018, bank details, drivers licence information, phone and tax file numbers as well as address and next of kin were caught up in have been affected by the breach of data held by third-part provider PageUp.

The State Government shut down its recruiting website in response to the breach at the time.

As reported in the Mercury today, Ms Ogilvie was told of the latest breach a week before informing the public late on Friday.

“I was informed on Saturday the 25th that there was a potential for a serious or credible breach,” she said.

Government departments were warned the same day and the breach was confirmed after IT industry media inquiries on March 27.

“As I’ve said, it’s really important that we do this work prudently and intelligently and manage the process,” Ms Ogilvie said.

“So once the investigations took place, I was kept informed during that week of the investigations and I was informed, sadly, that it was a credible threat.

“Once I had approval from our team that was doing the investigations to release the information that it was a credible threat I did that as quickly as I could, which was on the Friday.”

‘Concerning’: Government tight-lipped on data breach

April 1: The Premier has remained tight-lipped on details of a data breach that may have resulted in a loss of government and residents’ data.

Speaking to media on Saturday, Premier Jeremy Rockliff said the breach was “hugely concerning”, as all data breaches were.

The breach, which happened to a “third party file transfer service”, was reported by Minister for Science and Technology Madeleine Ogilvie on Friday afternoon.

In a statement, Ms Ogilvie revealed no specifics into the breach, but said the safety and personal information of Tasmanians was of “paramount importance”.

Forensic specialists are currently investigating the incident.

Premier Jeremy Rockliff. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

But despite the concern held by Mr Rockliff, no further details were provided as to the cause, location and extent of the breach.

When asked if there had been any indication as to how much data had been lost, Mr Rockliff said that was “still being worked through”.

“ … Now, it is important the investigation takes place, it is important all information is sorted, and then of course we will be very open and transparent with the Tasmanian community as to exactly the data breach and indeed, the information that has been compromised,” Mr Rockliff said.

He could not provide details as to how the breach occurred, why, and the extent of the data breach – but said he would work with all “individuals and organisations that had been affected”.

“ … And of course, we are seeing this more now across the country as well, it is deeply concerning and we’ll do everything we can, not only to investigate, get to the bottom of, but ensure that we will have the protections in place to ensure it never happens again,” he said.

In response to questions as to whether Tasmanian’s should be concerned about the safety of their data, Mr Rockliff said he recognised the concern of community members.

He said the investigation would include as to whether any information had been made public.