Melbourne Polytechnic student enrolment data, held by ZircoDATA, has been accessed in a cyber incident. The students impacted have been notified.
ZircoDATA is an established public records office and storage provider used by a wide range of organisations. Melbourne Polytechnic is one of a number of organisations across Australia impacted by the ZircoDATA cyber incident.
ZircoDATA was contracted by Melbourne Polytechnic to securely store past and present student enrolment data.
The affected data is limited to ‘low risk identity attributes’ - student’s full names, student identification numbers, dates of birth and physical addresses at the time of enrolment.
No other personal information was involved in the cyber incident. About 60,000 past and present students have been impacted.
This incident involves a third-party contractor - Melbourne Polytechnic was not the target of the breach.
Once notified of the cyber incident, Melbourne Polytechnic immediately began an investigation and ceased sending records to ZircoDATA.
Melbourne Polytechnic Chief Executive, Frances Coppolillo, said “the protection of student confidentiality and privacy is of critical importance to Melbourne Polytechnic”.
“Melbourne Polytechnic apologises unreservedly to everyone affected by this incident,” Ms Coppolillo said.
“We have contacted every current student impacted and are endeavouring to contact past students, many of whose contact details may have changed over the past 10 years.”
“Everyone impacted by this breach has been offered no-cost access to the services of national identity and cyber support service IDCARE.”
“IDCARE’s specialist team can provide the best advice on how to deal with what for many will be a stressful situation.”
Melbourne Polytechnic has partnered with IDCARE, Australia’s national identity and cyber support community service, to provide assistance at no cost to students.
Past and present students seeking more information or support should visit the Melbourne Polytechnic website, https://www.melbournepolytechnic.edu.au/data-incident-march-2024, or send a request via Melbourne Polytechnic’s Get Help Form.
Past and present students seeking more information or support should visit the data incident page or send a request with our Get Help Form (external link).