Cyber Security South Australia

Personal data of over 80,000 SA Govt employees accessed in cyber attack

Eliza Sayon Dec 14, 2021

2 min read

The South Australian Government has announced that the personal data of its public sector employees, possibly including the SA Premier, has been accessed in a cyber-attack.

The attack on SA Government’s external payroll software provider Frontier Software has led to at least 38,000 employees, but potentially over 80,000 employees, having their records illegally accessed.

Frontier Software, which has provided payroll services to the SA Government since 2001, was attacked via ransomware last month.

The stolen information, which included the names, dates of birth, tax file numbers, home addresses, bank account details, remuneration and superannuation contributions of the affected employees, was then published into the dark web.

Frontier Software Australia’s Chief Executive Nick Southcombe said the company advised its customers of cyber-attack last Friday.

“We are continuing to review and catalogue the data that we believe was stolen from our internal corporate environment, with a primary focus on identifying any customer data that may have been stolen,” Executive Southcombe said.

“Given that data was only stolen from our internal corporate environment, we assess that the number of impacted clients will be very limited. “

So far, there has only been one identified customer that has been affected by the breach. The company is currently working with the SA Government to resolve the issue.

Aside from public sector employees, Treasurer Rob Lucas said politicians such as Premier Steven Marshall, could also be affected.

“The highest of the high to the lowest of the low and all of the rest of us in between are potentially impacted, with the exception of teachers and the Department for Education,” he said.

The cyber theft is currently being investigated, with information to employees provided as quickly as possible. Aside from this, support has also been offered to staff that have been affected.

Treasurer Lucas said that they were first informed of the breach of state government data last Wednesday, but it was confirmed the next day that employees’ personal information was stolen.

“As soon as we’ve been able to get information together, provide accurate information to our employees, we’ve done so,” he said.

While there is no evidence that the employees’ personal information has been used, they have been advised to take “precautionary action” such as contacting their financial institutions and changing their passwords.

Nonetheless, the SA Government has reassured that employee pay cycles would not be affected by the breach. The impact of the cyber attack is expected to cost a significant amount but the SA Government is more concerned with the welfare of its employees.

Public Service Association of SA’s General Secretary Nev Kitchin said the situation was very concerning.

“We expect the state government to take all possible steps to review its cyber security measures in order to prevent such an event in the future,” he said.

“In the meantime, we expect the government to do everything possible to minimise the effects of this security breach and to provide the support our members need.”

Eliza Sayon

Website | + posts

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.