E-mail to Victorian Government employees
Details of the work of 30000 Victorian civil servants were leaked by hackers.
The data, which includes job emails, titles and job phone numbers, can be used by hackers for more targeted attacks, cyber security experts say.
Government employees were told that their bank information, including accounts and statements, had not been disclosed.
Affected government staff were told in an email that their cell phone numbers could also be leaked.
"as a result of this event, your work email and phone number may encounter more phishing, spam and social promotion." It was written in the mail.
"as usual, you should be aware of these risks and be vigilant when communicating via email and phone."
Suelette Dreyfus, a researcher on cybersecurity and privacy at the University of Melbourne, said that while the leaked data was not personal or highly sensitive, it could still lead to more targeted attacks or fraud as a whole.
"if the hacker takes out a little piece of information and analyses it together, he can get the image of the entire state, because he knows all the different people, their location, their phone numbers, etc. Because it`s all about government employees, it`s possible to have a bigger impact than the average person. "
Dr Dreyfus also believes that the aggregated data are valuable to anyone trying to influence government decision-making.
"whether it`s for commercial reasons, for winning contracts, or for government finances or policies, it could be used by this information," she said.
The Prime Minister`s Office said it had referred the violation to the police, the Australian Cyber Security Center and the Victorian Information Commissioner`s office for investigation.
"the government will ensure any lessons learned in the investigation in order to better prevent such violations in the future," the department spokesman said in a statement.
