Highly sensitive Australian court files have been accessed offshore in breach of the privacy act and Commonwealth contractual obligations, an ABC investigation has revealed, raising concerns of a national security risk.
Workers raised concerns with managers at VIQ Solutions — the company responsible for the data breach — months ago and were told they were “not relevant” and were directed to stop spreading “rumours” about the issue.
The transcription of court cases in most jurisdictions in Australia is done by VIQ Solutions, which is based in Canada and employs transcribers in Australia.
An ABC investigation found VIQ Solutions subcontracted work to e24 Technologies — a company based in Chennai, India that specialises in automated voice-to-text technology — in breach of its Commonwealth contract, and without notifying the courts.
Internal VIQ documents, sighted by the ABC, showed thousands of court files were accessed by staff at e24 Technologies with Indian email addresses.
VIQ staff based in Australia told the ABC that e24 staff were accessing court files outside of Australian business hours and completing transcripts at a speed that was not possible for a human. They claimed the transcripts completed by e24 contained significant errors, which then fell to VIQ staff to correct.
“Incredibly sensitive evidence from organisations like ASIO, the Australian Federal Police, is given in private court because it could be addressing links to international criminal organisations, potential foreign interference in the country,” he said.
He said this information in the wrong hands could do “incredible damage”.
The ABC understands that since July last year, at least a dozen senior VIQ staff were either made redundant or quit, along with staff who belonged to the Quality and Assurance team.
Senator Shoebridge said the revelations that Australian court data had been accessed offshore without the knowledge of the court were grounds for an independent audit and the urgent termination of the contract with VIQ.
“I have had multiple whistleblowers, not one, not two, multiple whistleblowers contacting my office and each time we raise this in public, we get more whistleblowers coming forward and showing very credible evidence.
Source: Highly sensitive Australian court data accessed by foreign entity based in India – ABC News