Data Management News

NSW Gov defends QR code data breach while nurses go on strike

Eliza Sayon Feb 17, 2022

2 min read

Thousands of NSW nurses have gone on a strike for better pay and work conditions as the NSW Government downplays a QR code data breach that has leaked thousands of sensitive business addresses online.

The breach was revealed to the public as the state recorded 8201 new COVID-19 cases and 16 more deaths and striking public hospital nurses marched on parliament.

With the latest wave taking its toll on NSW’s health system, nurses in around 150 public hospitals hit the streets to strike for the first time in nearly a decade.

Thousands of nurses rallied outside NSW Parliament House to take their message to MPs as they returned to Macquarie Street for the first sitting day of the year, with skeleton staff remaining at hospitals to ensure patient safety.

The strike came in defiance of an 11th-hour ruling by the state’s Industrial Relations Commission which ordered the union to refrain from industrial action.

Opposition Leader Chris Minns described the thousands-strong rally as a cry for help from frontline workers and nurses.

Meanwhile, Health Minister Brad Hazzard says he’s disappointed by the strike proceeding as the changes nurses want would cost the state about $1 billion to implement.

Aside from the strike, the NSW Government is also dealing with a QR code breach where data of some 500,000 physical addresses was divulged, including sensitive sites from defence to domestic violence shelters and prisons.

The locations were collected through the NSW Customer Services Department through its QR code registration system to comply with COVID check-in protocols.

The dataset, which was then inadvertently made public through a government website, was claimed by Premier Dominic Perrottet as an error.

The NSW government says it has discontinued that specific dataset but maintains the incident is not a cyber-security breach. Neither does the breach relate to the security or integrity of QR codes, after referring it to the state’s Privacy Commissioner.

However, Mr Minns slammed the breach as “completely unacceptable”.

“All of us, me included, have provided enormous amounts of personal information to the NSW government, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said.

“We’ve got every right and expectation that it will be held securely by our government.

With AAP

Eliza Sayon

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Eliza is a content producer and editor at Public Spectrum. She is an experienced writer on topics related to the government and to the public, as well as stories that uplift and improve the community.