The Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has reported a significant data breach involving the unauthorised disclosure of approximately 670 documents associated with its online complaint form. The breach was identified on April 10, with the unauthorised access believed to have occurred between March 24 and April 10.
Among the affected documents, around 100 were publicly accessible through search engines like Google and Bing from April 3 to May 10. These documents contained a range of personal information, such as full names, email addresses, residential addresses, mobile numbers, workplace details, health and educational backgrounds, religious affiliations, and photographs.
In addition to this, the AHRC discovered that documents tied to its Speaking from Experience project, Human Rights Awards 2023 nominations, and the National Anti-Racism Framework concept paper were compromised between April 3 and May 5. Although the number of individuals affected is still being assessed, the AHRC has confirmed that the breach is not attributed to a malicious or criminal act.
In response to the breach, the AHRC has established a taskforce to investigate the incident and to prevent further access to the compromised documents. Immediate measures have included disabling all online complaint forms, advising individuals to submit a PDF or Word version of their forms via email or post instead.
The AHRC has expressed its sincere apologies for any distress this breach may have caused, reiterating that the matter is being treated with utmost seriousness. Steps have been taken to remove affected documents from search engines and to conduct a comprehensive review of the data, with the aid of external experts.
Those potentially impacted include individuals who submitted complaints with attachments via the online form during the breach period, as well as participants in various projects and nominations specified by the AHRC. Notifications will be sent to affected individuals, who are also encouraged to reach out to the AHRC for further assistance.