Australian Healthcare Cyber Incident, 16 June 2021

Uniting Communities investigating possible data breach amid ‘cyber incident’

Uniting Communities said access to some of its technology systems had been blocked

Company Statement: Cyber incident update 03/09/21
Source: Incident: Uniting Communities investigating possible data breach amid ‘cyber incident’ | ABC News (Australia)

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and South Australia.

Major South Australian welfare agency Uniting Communities is investigating whether any data breaches have occurred as part of a “cyber incident” affecting its computer systems.

The service provider said it was looking into the cause of the technical problems, which were first noticed on Saturday, but said it was unclear if it had been hacked.

Uniting Communities delivers support to an estimated 74,000 South Australians every year across service areas including foster care, mental health counselling, disability support, elder care, homelessness support, and drug and alcohol counselling.

A spokesperson said crisis services including Lifeline Adelaide, Homeless Connect SA and the SA COVID Mental Health support line remained “fully operational”.

The agency said it was too early to tell whether there had been any data breaches resulting in private information being obtained.

Update 3/9/2021 – “We have now concluded an extensive forensic investigation of our systems to assess the risk of unauthorised access to private data. The protection of individual’s privacy has been of utmost importance throughout the investigation, and we are pleased that there is no evidence that the safety of our clients, customers, residents, or staff has been compromised as a result of this cyber incident.
We now move forward with confidence in the enhanced security of our systems and in the increased levels of protection of our information.”