[AusNOG] Stay Smart, is not so Smart

[Noel Butler]

Some miscreant spammer might think they've won the lotto if they get
this....



6 July 2012


Notification of Subscriber Data Loss

Dear Subscriber

We are writing to notify you that the Department has been advised by a
former external contractor that a DVD which included information
provided by Stay Smart Online Alert Service subscribers was lost in
Australia Posts’ system, after being posted on 11 April 2012. 

The external contractor provided the Alert Service on behalf of the
Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (‘the
Department’) from 2008 until 29 April 2012, when its contract with the
Department expired.  As you may be aware, the Stay Smart Online Alert
Service is currently being re-developed by the Department in
collaboration with two new contractors. 

As part of the expiry of contract handover process, the original
contractor advised that it copied its SSO Alert Service subscriber
database onto a DVD and, on 11 April 2012, posted this DVD to the
Department using Australia Post’s express post service. Unfortunately,
this DVD was never received by the Department. The original contractor
has informed the Department that information on the missing DVD included
subscribers’: usernames; email addresses; memorable phrases; and
passwords which are unreadable (as cryptographic hash).  

The Department has no reason to believe that this information has been
found and misused by any third party and we do not believe that there is
a privacy risk.  We are informing subscribers consistent with a ‘best
practice’ approach for privacy matters.

However, if you have used the same username, memorable phrase and/or
password for other websites or services you may wish to consider whether
these need to be changed.   

For information on password security and other tips and advice on how to
be safe and secure online, visit Stay Smart Online website
(www.staysmartonline.gov.au).

Regards

Stay Smart Online Team
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