Australia’s emergency services suffer massive data breach that compromised staffers’ data

• The compromised information includes addresses and medical information of the employees of various emergency services departments.
• The affected emergency services departments have also launched their own internal investigations.

Victoria police will soon launch a probe into a massive data breach that impacted several emergency services departments in Australia in October 2018. As a result of the breach, the personal data of several staff members were exposed online. The compromised information includes addresses and medical information of the employees of various emergency services departments.

The cause of the breach and the number of staffers affected are still unknown. Apart from the police, the affected emergency services departments have also launched their own internal investigations.

“This kind of cybercrime is nothing short of appalling. There will be a thorough, independent investigation to determine exactly how this happened and it will be dealt with accordingly,” said James Merlini, Victorian Minister for Emergency Services, The Age reported.

“There will be a thorough, independent investigation to determine exactly how this happened and it will be dealt with accordingly. We will implement any security protocols necessary to ensure the protection of personal data,” a spokeswoman from the Country Fire Authority said.

Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Fire Brigade (MFB) claims that there is no evidence that its data was affected during the breach.

“There is no information to suggest MFB has been affected at this time, and MFB has not been made aware of any breaches to any of the data we store and manage. MFB has safeguards in place to ensure the protection and security of any data we manage.” said a spokeswoman for the MFB.

The Community and Public Service Union is still ascertaining the number of individuals affected by the breach. However, it is believed that the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP), Emergency Management Victoria and Parks’ employee data has been compromised in the breach.