Documents containing personal information of NT residents found dumped in Darwin bushland
A Darwin woman is investigating a personal data breach, after her private employment records were found at a dumpsite on the city's outskirts. The records contained her contact details, banking information and medical certificates, along with a bizarre collection of documents from various NT government agencies.
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00:00Wendy and Kaylee Cox are used to finding rubbish dumped in the bushland adjoining their Howard
00:07Springs property.
00:09But on Boxing Day last year they found something much more valuable, belonging to a woman named
00:14Tony.
00:15I looked up Tony's name on Facebook and I sent her a private message saying I think
00:20you need to see this.
00:22Tony, who worked at pet supply franchise Pet Barn, was shocked at what she found.
00:28Personal performance reviews, leave applications, tax file numbers, bank card, superannuation,
00:40doctor's certificate.
00:43She made contact with another ex-employee and found out her documents and those of around
00:48five other Pet Barn employees were thrown out in 2021.
00:53Where has it been for nearly two years?
00:55Who's had access to it?
00:57And what have they been doing with it?
00:59In a statement, Pet Barn says it had no role in the improper disposal of documents but
01:04wouldn't provide the findings of what it said was a thorough internal review.
01:08Amongst the dumped Pet Barn records was a random collection of other documents from
01:13the courts and prisons and an application for public housing.
01:17To this day I don't know who picked it up, so I still don't know who's got all that information
01:22or what happened to it.
01:23David Lacey is the director of ID Care, a non-for-profit organisation responding to
01:29data breaches and identity theft.
01:31He says the type of information left dumped in Howard Springs is no less serious than
01:36an online breach.
01:37You know, if there's information that people are coming across in the bush, it's still
01:41the same information that might be exploitable.
01:44Tony had to change all her contact information, passwords and tax file number and says the
01:50Federal Information Commissioner is preparing to investigate.
01:53Tony wants to see increased awareness around the handling of personal information.
01:59Treat it the way you'd want your stuff to be treated.
02:02Just how the documents ended up in the bush remains unclear.