Port Phillip Council CEO Chris Carroll (pictured) has acknowledged a data breach at the Council’s website.

“We’ve recently become aware that a small number of new users to the portal may have been able to view requests other than their own. This is not the result of hacking and there have been no updates or deletions made to anybody’s personal data,” said a Council representative.

Mr Carroll said: “On December 9, Council become (sic) aware that 33 new users to the portal may have been able to view requests other than their own. This occurred after a system upgrade that took place on December 7 and the correct access was restored immediately upon this being identified.

“This is not the result of hacking and there have been no updates or deletions made to anybody’s personal data. There is a small possibility, however, that your name, address, phone number and/or email address (if supplied when logging a request) may have been viewed by one of these 33 people.

“There is no evidence to suggest users with incorrect access performed any malicious or exploratory activities, but out of an abundance of caution we are notifying customers that currently have an active request open with Council.

“We’re sorry and disappointed to share this news. Council regards the protection of personal information to be of great importance and we make every effort to safeguard information under our control.

“Council adopts best industry security practices in protecting customer data. We have established multifactored authentication, secure passwords, firewalls, end point protection and encryption when data is accessed, handled, transmitted, hosted or stored.”

The Council says that anyonw who is not happy with the municipality’s handling of the matter may contact the Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner (ovic.vic.gov.au)