Benjamin Preiss reports:
Ballarat City Council’s online network was in meltdown yesterday after it was discovered somebody had broken into the system.
One source, who had specific details about the security scare, said a teenager from regional Victoria had gained access to the system.
”Essentially the level of access that’s available is complete and unrestricted access to all their files,” the source said.
Council staff detected the security breach on Monday after a resident came forward with claims the system had been hacked.
Ballarat City Council chief executive officer Anthony Schinck said the network would be shut down until the end of the week after unauthorised access to payroll data and emails.
[…]
Mr Schinck said the council network was accessed via a ”third party provider”, which provides network support to Ballarat and other local councils….. ”It appears that log ins and passwords have been potentially stolen (which) has allowed access to the system.”
Read more in The Courier.