[LINK] Private mobile phone numbers of nearly every federal MP accidentally published online

[Stephen Loosley]

Private mobile phone numbers of nearly every federal MP accidentally published online

By Adam Gartrell  March 20 2017 - 4:54PM
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/private-mobile-phone-numbers-of-nearly-every-federal-mp-accidentally-published-online-20170320-gv1x85.html

The private mobile phone numbers of hundreds of federal politicians, former prime ministers and senior political staffers have been inadvertently published online in an embarrassing blunder by a government department.

The Department of Parliamentary Services failed to properly delete the numbers before it published the most recent round of politicians' phone bills on the Parliament House website, potentially compromising the privacy and security of MPs from cabinet ministers down..

While in previous years the numbers were taken out of the PDF documents altogether, this time it appears the font was merely turned white - meaning they could still be accessed using copy and paste.

The department has blamed a private contractor, TELCO Management, for the stuff-up.

Cyber security expert Greg Austin said the breach could help foreign powers with intelligence gathering.

"I wouldn't see it as necessarily leading directly to a significant exposure," said Professor Austin, from the Australian Centre for Cyber Security at UNSW.

"But this sort of data can form part of an intelligence picture for foreign intelligence agencies and can be used in a number of ways after that. Knowing the private phone numbers of these people also helps foreign intelligence agencies form a view of who is talking to who. So it's not good."

The numbers - for all MPs who served between January and June last year, before the July election - were easily and publicly accessible on the website for more than three months.

They were quickly deleted by DPS on Monday after Fairfax Media alerted the department to the breach.

The phone records are published every six months, to show how much politicians and their staff are spending on calls.

TELCO Management has been contacted for comment. Tender documents show the department paid TELCO $20,350 last year for "provision of telecommunications invoice reconciliation systems".

--

Cheers,
Stephen