The WA Government has confirmed confidential data from the state’s Department of Health was made publicly available on a website after it was distributed over a third-party paging service.
Key points:
- A paging system was being used to send confidential health data
- The system, run by Vodafone, has now been suspended
- WA Health says its own data systems have not been breached
The website published paging messages that included confidential information about West Australian patients, including those with suspected COVID-19 infection.
In a statement, a spokesman for the WA Department of Premier and Cabinet said action was taken as soon as the Government was alerted to the data breach.
He said the data breach was associated with the use of a third-party pager service by the Department of Health.
“The Department of Health immediately contacted the vendor and asked that the paging component of its service be ceased until the issue is addressed,” the statement said.
“The paging service provider has indicated their services have not been compromised and is working with the telecommunications provider.”