A notification and support program has been launched by the Department of Education to advise personnel whose personal information was taken in last year’s July cyberattack.
The cyberattack impacted the Department’s login management system and resulted in some systems being taken offline prior to the beginning of Term 3 last year.
Announcing the support program, the Department said that since containing the data breach, it had engaged forensic analysts and undertaken detailed investigations to understand the scope of the breach and the risks which arose from it.
The Department said people whose information had been compromised in the incident would be contacted directly.
“We’ve also established a call centre so that people who are affected can reach out to the Department for support,” it said.
“If a person does not receive a notification, they do not need to take any further action regarding this incident.
“We acknowledge the seriousness of this incident and apologise for the distress that a cyber incident causes to the community.”
The Department said the forensic investigation of stolen data was an “extremely complex and time-consuming process”, which was why people whose information was compromised had not been notified earlier.
It said it was also working with the Australian Cyber Security Centre, the NSW Information and Privacy Commissioner and the NSW Police to investigate the attack.
