Details of 140 Guardian Australia staff jeopardised in cyber attack
The personal data of around 140 Guardian Australia staff has been compromised in the fallout of a ransomware attack last year that continues to affect the publication.
A Guardian Australia spokesperson confirmed that those affected were employed between February 2017 and May 2019.
“We have notified the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner,” the spokesperson wrote in a statement. “A credit monitoring service is in place for all Guardian Australia staff, even though we have seen no evidence that personal data has been exposed online. We continue to monitor for this.”
Nine’s The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Guardian Australia’s managing director Dan Stinton and editor Lenore Taylor emailed staff in mid-January about the breach.
The email said, for those employees involved, their details including tax file numbers, bank account details, superannuation information, salaries and addresses were potentially compromised.
However, whether the details have been accessed remains undetermined at this stage.
On 12 January, the Guardian confirmed that UK staff members’ details have been accessed in the ransomware attack.
At the time, the company said the subscriber information did not appear to have been accessed, nor did the personal data of Guardian US and Guardian Australia staff.
The publication is among an array of brands and media organisations affected by cyber attacks in recent years. Most prominently, these include Optus which was hit last year, alongside Nine, the owner of The Sydney Morning Herald, and media monitoring company iSentia.
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Darcy Song was a reporter at Mumbrella, covering media owners, adtech and social platforms. She left in October 2023.
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