The Australian Home Office has been blushing after accidentally leaking personal information about participants in a government cybersecurity report.
of Guardian Australia Yesterday, about 50 business owners and employees revealed that they have earned more than expected when they took part in the campaign. Understanding Small Business and Cybersecurity study.
Their names, company names, phone numbers and email addresses were revealed to have been mistakenly posted on the parliamentary website in response to questions from Shadow Cybersecurity and Home Affairs Minister James Patterson.
Read more about Australian data breach: Optus hit by cyberattack, breach impacts nearly 10 million customers
A Home Office spokesperson told the paper it was “aware of the potential for unintended data release” and was “considering” contacting affected individuals as required under the Privacy Act.
The report itself appears to have been produced as part of an Australian government-backed cyber watchdog program. The program aims to improve cybersecurity awareness and competence among SMEs.
This multi-million dollar effort was launched following several damaging breaches at high-profile companies such as Optus and Medibank.
Mr. Patterson immediately blamed the government for the data breach.
“It is very ironic that this leak of personally identifiable information occurred in response to a question about improving the cybersecurity of small and medium-sized enterprises, and in response from the minister’s ministry who openly attacked Optus, where similar data was stolen by criminal gangs,” he said.
“The recent data breaches of Optus, Medibank and others were terrible, but a data loss of this magnitude by a government department or agency could be even worse given the sensitivity of the content involved.”
