The federal Attorney-General’s department has confirmed some people who applied for a job there may have been affected by a data breach.
In an email sent to applicants over the last week seen by SBS News, the department’s recruitment team wrote it’s “possible that some of your personal details which were held in PageUp’s systems may have been accessed by an unauthorised person and possibly disclosed to others.”
“The Attorney-General’s Department is a PageUp client," the department told SBS News.
“On 15 June, the department notified individuals who may be impacted by the data breach through our client relationship with PageUp.”
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HR data breach may impact thousands
PageUp is a HR software company that counts the Commonwealth Bank, Telstra and Australia Post as clients.
The company told customers it had noticed ‘unusual activity on its IT infrastructure’ last month and subsequently discovered some data had been compromised.
“Forensic investigations have confirmed that an unauthorised person gained access to PageUp systems,” the company’s CEO Karen Cariss wrote in a statement on its website.
“Although the incident has been contained and PageUp is safe to use, we sincerely regret some data may be at risk.”
This may include the name, email and physical address, and telephone numbers of people using it.
As well, employment information like status, company and title may also have been compromised.
"Importantly, we are confident that the most critical data categories including resumes, financial information, Australian tax file numbers, employee performance reports and employment contracts are not affected in this incident,” PageUp said.
The Attorney-General’s Department did not tell SBS News how many jobseekers may have been affected by the breach.
The Australian Cyber Security Centre is investigating the incident and recommends anyone who believes they may have been affected to change their password.
