Tocal College data breach

The department became aware of the incident on 16 September 2024 and immediately shut down access to the database and removed the database from its system. The NSW Police, NSW Privacy Commissioner, Cyber NSW and the Australian Cyber Security Centre have been notified.

The department engaged the services of a cyber security forensics firm to conduct a forensic investigation to identify the root cause and to prevent recurrence. The investigation found that:

• the threat actor had access to the database from 13 September 2024 until 16 September 2024

• personal information stored within the database was accessible to the threat actor during this time

• the threat actor did not access any files or folders while running the ransomware. However, approximately 1GB data was seen leaving the network. The forensic investigator assessed that due to the duration of the connection and the amount of data seen leaving the network, that no substantial data exfiltration occurred

• the forensic investigation concluded that the malicious activity undertaken by the threat actor was performed for the purposes of encryption rather than to exfiltrate or access the data. 

   

People who studied with the Tocal College during 2019-2024 will be directly notified of the incident.

Read the official The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) official breach notification.

Fact sheets containing further information are available from the Information and Privacy Commission. 

• Be alert to scams and suspicious emails and telephone calls from people requesting your personal details, (especially things like your date of birth, residential address, driver’s licence numbers, email address, username and passwords which are often used to verify your identity). Do not click links or open attachments unless you can be certain they are authentic. 

• Don’t share your password or give remote access to your computer or other device and change and update online passwords regularly.

• As a precaution you can contact credit reporting organisations like Equifax, illion or Experian to confirm if your identity has been used to obtain credit without your knowledge, or to request a short-term credit ban be put in place

• If you start to receive unwanted telemarketing calls, consider registering your number with the Australian Communications and Media Authority’s ‘Do Not Call register’. 

More advice on protecting yourself online is available at: Protect your personal information and privacy 

ID Support NSW is a free government support service for all people in NSW to help individuals restore and protect their identity documents and personal information.

If you believe your personal information has been stolen, used, breached, or accessed without your knowledge or consent, or anyone impacted by this unfortunate event, contact ID Support NSW.

• Call us on 1800 001 040 Monday to Friday, between 9am and 5pm

• Submit an online contact form for a call-back.