Hedley Thomas reports:
Australians seeking confidential DNA paternity tests to establish the parentage of their children have been outed online in a major privacy breach at Australia’s largest drug and alcohol testing company.
Other sensitive data accidentally disclosed by the national company, Medvet, also compromise the privacy of hundreds of people who have confidentially ordered kits to test themselves or family and friends for illicit drugs and alcohol in their urine and saliva.
An investigation by The Weekend Australian has revealed that the complete home and work addresses of customers and others who ordered paternity test kits, drug and alcohol test kits and other products this year and last year are published and accessible on Google.
The nature of the privacy breach means that unknowing employers, spouses, children and unrelated members of the public could identify customers and their kits. In all cases, the addresses are published along with the product order. In a minority of cases, the names of customers are disclosed.
Read more on The Australian.