Hackers targeted another Australian institution, Nagle Catholic College (NCC) in Geraldton and the school principal has warned the parents that their bank details, as well as signatures, might have been stolen after the educational institution has been targeted in a 4-day-long data breach.
NCC reported the cyber attack incident to the catholic Education Western Australia (CEWA) and Australian Information Commissioner's Office.
In a letter, which was sent to the parents, the principal of Nagle Catholic College Rob Crothers expressed "deep regret" for the cybersecurity breach and classified the attack as "highly sophisticated."
He revealed that it is not the only institution, which was targeted in this "widespread cybersecurity attack" that was launched by some anonymous cybercriminals on June 11, 2019.
As per the local media reports, Crothers said that the data breach happened when someone has mistakenly opened a malicious link in the phishing email that was sent to the NCC. The vulnerable information that could have been stolen include parents' bank account information and also their scanned signatures when they paid school fee.
The principal confirmed the vulnerability by stating that the parents who may have provided information by email format relating to accounts to collect fee payments automatically could have been compromised. He also said, "There's quite a large amount of data. We're still doing discovery on that".
However, the parents were asked to stay vigilant and check their bank account statements for any kind of suspicious activity. Meanwhile, a security firm was hired by the organisation and the NCC determined to improve its cybersecurity.
As per a CEWA spokesperson, they have systems as well as measures in place to monitor and then respond to the cybersecurity incidents.
In June Australian National University (ANU) stated that they had been attacked by the hackers and the national research university also said that cybercriminals successfully gained access to the personal information of up to 200,000 students and employees dating back 19 years.
