Legal Practice Board data breach ‘not great’ according to Premier as full extent of hack yet to be determined

Roger Cook has described a data breach of the Legal Practice Board as “not good” but suggested the impacts of the hack may not have been as bad as first thought. It was revealed on Wednesday the legal organisation — which investigates dodgy lawyers and holds some of the judiciary’s most sensitive secrets — had been hacked by global ransomware gang Dire Wolf. The hacking group promotes itself as “a group of hackers who only seek money, no morals, no political stance, no LGBT” and plans to publish half the stolen data on June 15. The hackers claim the remaining information will be leaked on June 30. Speaking on Thursday morning, the Premier was asked whether he was disappointed the hack occurred. “Obviously this isn’t good, it’s not great, information that’s held by the board of legal practitioners is very sensitive,” he said. “It gives information with regards to the background of legal practitioners, their personal information, and a whole range of background information in relation to them which allows the board of legal practitioners to make their decisions around who gets registered. “It’s very sensitive information and obviously we don’t want that information to get into the wrong hands.” While the exact details of what information had been hacked is not yet known, in a note to members the board said a “small” amount of information had been stolen which included “minimal” contact information and bank account details. Mr Cook said the board was independent of the government and it appeared the hack may have not been as severe as first thought. “I am still yet to be briefed as to the extent of the data breach,” he said. “Initial thoughts were that it was very serious and we are actually starting to receive the information that maybe the data breach was not as serious as we first thought. “But it is important that entities such as the the Board of Legal Practitioners does make sure that they protect their data very securely, and the Government stands ready to work with them, to assist them, to keep put those measures in place.” Both Attorney-General Tony Buti and Solicitor-General Craig Bydder sit as board members for the organisation while it is chaired by veteran commercial property lawyer John Syminton. The Legal Practice Board is an “independent statutory authority“, meaning its powers are enshrined in legislation but it operates at arms-length from government.