Legal documents from the Victorian Government have been released to cyber criminals on the dark web after an affiliated law firm was hacked.
The state’s Chief Information Security Officer said after the major cyber breach of HWL Ebsworth in April this year the data leaked about government departments and agencies has been published to the dark web.
HWL Ebsworth was the subject of a cyber attack by threat actor “ALPHV/BlackCat”.
The firm became aware of the attacker after a post was made on a dark web forum with the perpetrator claiming to have “exfiltrated data”.
“The investigation indicates the threat actor had accessed and exfiltrated certain information on a confined part of the firm’s system, but not on our core document management system,” the firm said.
But last month HWL Ebsworth found out the information that had been stolen was published on the dark web.
The Chief Information Security Officer said the government is taking this breach extremely seriously.
”We are taking this matter extremely seriously, and are working in partnership with the Commonwealth Government, and can confirm that there has been no direct breach of Victorian Government IT systems,” the officer said.
“HWL Ebsworth is in direct contact with impacted departments and agencies to provide advice on the specific information that has been exposed.”
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The Chief Information Security Officer confirmed if the information exposed on the dark web impacts Victorians, they will be notified by the relevant department or agency.
“Departments and agencies will make direct contact with those impacted as soon possible to provide tailored advice and support because we know data breaches can be distressing, especially when personal information is involved,” the officer said.
“Supporting impacted Victorians and their wellbeing, remains a top priority.”
HWL Ebsworth is working with Australia’s national identity and cyber support community service IDCARE to support impacted people.
“These services are available at no cost to affected individuals,” the government said.
The Chief Information Security Officer added any services assisting the Victorian Government are expected to maintain “strong cyber security measures” to protect data.
“We have sought assurances from HWL Ebsworth on the cyber security protections applied to Victorian Government data,” the officer said.
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