The Tasmanian government has come under fire for providing a lack of detail on a data breach that may have compromised personal information.
In a statement on Friday afternoon, Technology Minister Madeleine Ogilvie said the government was looking into a "breach of a third-party file transfer service", which "may have resulted in the loss of data held by the government".
"We are currently working closely with forensic specialists to ascertain the extent of the breach, and we will keep Tasmanians updated as this progresses," she said.
Ms Ogilvie said if the investigation revealed any personal information had been compromised, the government would work with anyone affected.
The government has declined to provide any further detail on which file transfer service had been breached, how many Tasmanians could be affected or what sort of personal data may have been lost or exposed, with a spokeswoman saying the government was "not in a position" to do so.
'Not good enough'
Labor's Jen Butler took aim at the handling of the announcement of the breach.
"Late today, Minister Ogilvie put out a media release, informing Tasmanians that the government is investigating a data breach of a third party file transfer service which may have resulted in the loss of government data," she said.
"But there is no further detail about what precisely has been breached, how many Tasmanians may be affected or what type of personal information may be at risk."
Ms Butler said "given the valuable information held by the government on all Tasmanians – including drivers licence details, births deaths and marriages data and medical records, it is vital that Tasmanians know their personal information could be at risk".
She said for the minister to put out a media release late on a Friday with little information or reassurance was "not good enough".
"This is a serious issue that could potentially affect tens of thousands of Tasmanians – and they deserve to know whether their personal details have been compromised and what Minister Ogilvie is doing to protect them."
