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The National Disability Insurance Scheme has released an update on last year’s breach of the National Disability Insurance Agency.
The National Disability Insurance Scheme has said that investigations into a data breach experienced by the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) last year are ongoing, but notifying those impacted by the incident has hit a snag.
Unfortunately, a number of the victims were children under the age of 18 and not current participants in the scheme, making it difficult to notify them.
“The NDIA has an obligation, under the Privacy Act 1998, Notifiable Data Breaches Scheme, to notify any individuals potentially impacted by this breach,” the NDIS reported in a 23 September update.
“The agency has worked to do this, but has been unable to contact some individuals who, at the time of their or their nominee’s engagement with the scheme, were under the age of 18.
“These individuals are not NDIS participants, but may be either a former participant, related to a current NDIS participant or someone who had previously applied for access to the scheme.”
Around 11,000 NDIA records were breached last year after an employee leaked the data. The employee and one other person were arrested on the same day the incident was revealed on 28 November 2023.
The data leaked included names, dates of birth, gender, and full residential address.
“The NDIA is continuing to actively monitor the situation and investigate the breach. It should be noted there are active prosecutions before the courts in relation to this breach, following the agency and Fraud Fusion Taskforce taking action against those allegedly responsible,” the update said.
“The NDIA recognises that this news may be distressing and concerning for participants, families, carers and supporters. We sincerely apologise for this.”
The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission and the Australian Federal Police are continuing to assist in the investigation.
David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.
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