CHESTER COOPER, PLP DEPUTY LEADER
The Progressive Liberal Party notes with grave concern the statement from the attorney general today on the “hacking” into of the database at the Registrar General’s Department.
The availability of data upon the payment of a search fee is not the issue. The issue is the lack of security that enabled the data base to be hacked.
This was exacerbated by the failure of the security system to immediately, in January, notify the authorities that the data base had been hacked.
Can the attorney general confirm that an independent advisor is the source of his statement that the database storing beneficial ownership data “was not affected by the hacking exercise; nor was the same compromised in any way”?
Further, would the attorney general confirm that the existing system was tested for vulnerability and penetration in line with international best practice since his current tenure in office began. Would the attorney general also confirm that appropriate investment is being made for relevant system upgrades?
We welcome the news that this hacking is the subject of an ongoing investigation and eagerly await its outcome and recommendations.
We hope that this investigation will be rapidly completed and made public unlike other promised investigations about which the public has heard nothing further.