National

Law firm cyber hack may include Tasmanian govt data

By AAP Newswire

Jun 9, 2023

Image of cyber security hacker — Hackers are claiming to have obtained state client information and employee data from HWL Ebsworth. -AAP Image

The cyber hack of a national law firm has potentially resulted in the release of Tasmanian government information onto the dark web.

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The state government on Friday said it had been contacted by the federal government about an illegal release of data held by HWL Ebsworth.

Minister for Science and Technology Madeleine Ogilvie said authorities were taking a nationally coordinated approach to investigating the impacts of the incident.

"This is concerning and we are working closely with the Australian government to establish if any Tasmanian information has been impacted," Ms Ogilvie said.

"While this may take some time considering the volume of data involved - we are taking swift action and will keep the Tasmanian community informed with further developments."

She said the Tasmanian government was one of HWL Ebsworth's clients and was advised on May 2 of a data compromise involving the firm.

It was reported in May by the Australian Financial Review that hackers claimed to have obtained client information and employee data from HWL Ebsworth.

A spokesman for federal Cyber Security Minister Clare O'Neil was unable to provide comment.

HWL Ebsworth has been contacted for comment.

The state government was caught up in a separate data breach earlier this year in which 16,000 state education department documents were released onto the dark web after a third-party file transfer service was hacked.

By AAP Newswire

Australian Associated Press