Victorian court user data leaked to dark web forum, police investigate

Personal information from online hearings in regional Victorian courts has been posted on a dark web forum, prompting a police investigation. Court Services Victoria has confirmed the breach involved participants in online hearings in the Magistrates' Court and Children's Court divisions. The material is understood to include sensitive details from hearings in Bendigo and other regional centres across Victoria.

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The leaked data is reported to span hearings from 2022 to 2026 and includes names, email addresses and job titles. Court Services Victoria said the dump also contained publicly available information such as case names and courtrooms. According to the supplied reporting, some of the material appears to relate to family violence intervention order hearings and children's court cases, which raises the sensitivity of the exposure.

Court Services Victoria said the number of people affected is not yet known. It has advised anyone concerned for their safety to contact police or victim support services. The Victorian Information Commissioner, Victoria Police, the Australian Cyber Security Centre and justice sector parties have been notified, indicating the matter is being treated as a significant public-sector data breach.

The incident matters because it involves court users in proceedings that can already carry heightened privacy and safety risks. Family violence matters and children's court cases often contain information that is not intended for broad public circulation, even when some hearing details are available online. Exposure of that material on an underground forum could increase risks for affected people and complicate the handling of sensitive justice matters.

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The breach also comes against a backdrop of earlier cyber and data incidents affecting the Victorian justice system. The supplied reporting says a ransomware attack in 2024 was suspected to involve Russian hackers, while in 2021 the Children's Court inadvertently posted case information online. Those earlier events suggest repeated pressure on court systems that rely on digital platforms for access and administration.

A forum user claimed to have acquired 28,600 lines of court records, and a sample of the material appears to show metadata taken from the court's WebEx system, which hosts online hearings. A hacker has also claimed responsibility for the breach, according to the supplied material. What remains unclear is the full scale of the exposure, how the data was obtained, and whether any of the information has been further distributed beyond the forum post.

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