Document Leak Exposes Aust and NZ Police
Document Leak Exposes Aust and NZ Police
March 14, 2006: Thousands of Police officers in Australia and New Zealand along with their partners and children have reportedly had their personal details exposed after an electronic document leak.
Perth’s Sunday Times reported alleged that the document contained details such as officer’s names, ranks, departments, vehicle registration and names of partners and children.
New Zealand Police Assistant Commissioner Peter Marshall counters this saying that no damaging information was leaked and that all information found in the document could be uncovered elsewhere in the public sector.
"The information is up to six years out of date and records names of officers, in some cases it includes a rank and the unit the officer is purported to be attached to. There is no personal or confidential information on the files." says Marshall.
WA Police acting deputy commissioner Murray Lampard says that some of the information could be accurate, however, "a lot of the information seems to have stopped at 2003."
Lampard says that police are taking the leak seriously and are working to discover the source of the facts and comments contained within.
In a similar case earlier this week, the names of over 2,500 U.S. CIA agents were compiled by The Chicago Tribune from public sources over the internet. The paper used data aggregators to gather names, places of work, addresses and phone numbers of workers at the agency.
“These leaks demonstrate the disturbing disregard many organisations have for their own confidential information and the privacy for their employees and customers,” says Andrew Pearson, Workshare Vice President, Asia Pacific.
“While information leaks can create financial havoc and irreparable damage to any organisation, these latest breaches highlight that people too can be placed at grave risk.”
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