Compliance Investigation Into Mercury IT Breach Commenced

The Privacy Commissioner is warning the public to be aware that the Mercury IT breached data is protected by a court order.

Justice Grice has released the reasons for making the interim orders this week.

The High Court order prevents anyone from storing, publishing, sharing, or accessing files obtained from the attack on Mercury IT.

The Office has also commenced its compliance investigation into the breach.

A compliance investigation enables the Office to use its full information gathering powers including obliging people to provide information and summoning witnesses.

As this investigation is active no further comments will be made at this time.

Privacy Commissioner Michael Webster says court orders are clearly an important tool to help limit the ramifications of a serious data breach.

Anyone coming across the Mercury IT data should take care not to act in a way that breaches this court order.

“Do not access it. Do not spread it. Do not share it. Report it to the New Zealand Police. No one should contribute to its dissemination and increase the anxiety and distress to individuals impacted.”

Individuals should be on the lookout for anything out of the ordinary.

“Be hyper vigilant. Watch out for suspicious texts, emails or unusual things happening with your accounts or records. Be particularly cautious of contact from an unknown source.”

If people would like to know more about some steps they could take to protect themselves from privacy breaches they could follow this link: https://privacy.org.nz/resources-2/protecting-yourself-from-a-privacy-breach/

© Scoop Media