{"id":910403,"date":"2026-09-30T00:52:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T00:52:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/910403\/"},"modified":"2026-09-30T00:52:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T00:52:12","slug":"queensland-government-department-loses-800000-in-cyber-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/910403\/","title":{"rendered":"Queensland government department loses $800,000 in cyber attack"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">The Queensland government department delivering the state&#8217;s first cyber security strategy lost more than $800,000 in a cyber attack, a new report has revealed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">The Customer Services, Open Data and Small and Family Business department plays a lead role in strengthening the state government&#8217;s cyber security capabilities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">In the department&#8217;s latest annual report, the entity noted it lost $809,000 in public money as a result of an external cyber attack in July 2025.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">A department spokesperson said no payment was made &#8220;to those responsible&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;The systems of a third-party telecommunication provider were accessed illegally for financial gain,&#8221; the spokesperson said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;Immediate steps were taken to contain and investigate the incident, and security controls have been further strengthened.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">The review, released on Friday, said no government data or sensitive information was compromised during the incident.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;The department blocked the attack and engaged a third party to mitigate any further exposure,&#8221; the report said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">The entity is responsible for setting the cyber security policy and guidance for the state&#8217;s public sector and for managing whole-of-government cyber security services.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;The Queensland government is committed to protecting the security and resilience of its systems and services,&#8221; the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n<p>Thousands of cyber security events<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">In the Transport and Main Roads Department&#8217;s annual report, the entity said it reviewed more than 9,000 suspicious activities in the last financial year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">The department also investigated more than 3,000 cyber security events.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"A car and a person on a motorcycle lined up at roadworks and a traffic light\" class=\"Image_image__5tFYM ContentImage_image__DQ_cq\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2374cd8c3bcb65cca9562708b7e23100.jpeg\" loading=\"lazy\" data-component=\"Image\" data-lazy=\"true\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"Typography_base__sj2RP FigureCaption_text__zDxQ5 Typography_sizeMobile12__w_FPC Typography_lineHeightMobile20___U7Vr Typography_regular__WeIG6 Typography_colourInherit__dfnUx\" data-component=\"Typography\">The Department of Transport and Main Roads investigated more than 3,000 cyber security events in the last financial year. (Supplied: Transport and Main Roads Queensland)<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;These efforts supported early threat detection, reduced operational impacts and informed ongoing improvements to security controls,&#8221; the report said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">A transport department spokesperson said the entity continues to enhance its cyber security capability through continuous monitoring, staff awareness programs, security assurance activities, and targeted initiatives aligned with the state&#8217;s cyber security strategy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">It said the department actively monitors and investigates suspicious activities to protect the state&#8217;s transport services, information systems, and customer data.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Under legislative requirements, the department notifies individuals when an incident results in an eligible privacy breach.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">In March, the Queensland Audit Office published a report that examined and tested the effectiveness of a state government, local government, and statutory body&#8217;s IT security controls.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/news\/2026-03-26\/queensland-cybersecurity-audit-highights-gaps\/106497032\" data-component=\"FullBleedLink\" class=\"RelatedCard_link__rsgR9 FullBleedLink_root__lTw_U interactive_focusContext__yRhc_ interactive_defaults__AKxUU FullBleedLink_showVisited__g3Xvz\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Cybersecurity audit exposes gaps in government systems in Qld<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"Typography_base__sj2RP RelatedCard_synopsis__cFwMW Typography_sizeMobile14__u7TGe Typography_lineHeightMobile20___U7Vr Typography_regular__WeIG6 Typography_colourInherit__dfnUx\" data-component=\"Typography\">The report found increasing frequency and sophistication of cyber attacks could expose government entities that had weak cybersecurity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">The audit gained the &#8220;highest level of access&#8221; to two government entities in the state.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">It did not name the entities &#8220;to avoid publicly identifying any security vulnerabilities&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">The report found that the increasing frequency and sophistication of cyber attacks could expose entities that had weak cybersecurity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">It recommended all public sector entities and local governments review and, where needed, update their policies to ensure there is appropriate guidance about identifying, assessing, and monitoring third-party cyber security risks and developing mitigation controls.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">In the Customer Services department&#8217;s &#8220;cyber security leadership role&#8221;, it agreed to all relevant recommendations and progressed actions, including initiatives to strengthen whole\u2011of\u2011government cyber security capability.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Queensland government department delivering the state&#8217;s first cyber security strategy lost more than $800,000 in a cyber&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":910404,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99,478456,43851,321594,12460,38823,109777,12530,28621,478457],"class_list":["post-910403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-customer-services-open-data-and-small-and-family-business","tag-cyber-security","tag-financial-gain","tag-hack","tag-hackers","tag-queensland-audit-office","tag-threat","tag-threat-detection","tag-transport-and-main-roads"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/910403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=910403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/910403\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/910404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=910403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=910403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=910403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}