Hackers steal Mount Lilydale Mercy College parents’ credit card details in data breach

Hundreds of parents of students at a Catholic high school northeast of Melbourne had their credit card information stolen during the school holidays.

A letter sent Jan. 30 alerted parents at Mount Lilydale Mercy College to the breach, which has affected 400 people.

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According to Principal Philip A. Morison, the college was alerted to the cyber attack by “third-party hackers” on January 11 by the Australian Federal Police (AFP).

An AFP spokesman said he notified the college after receiving “information that indicated potentially suspicious activity was emanating from their network.”

The violation also affected former parents whose credit card numbers the college still had on file.

Information on CCV numbers was not collected.

“Once we became aware of the suspected data breach… we engaged specialized cyber incident response professionals, including cybersecurity analysts and IT forensic investigators, to guide our response,” Morison said.

“While these investigations are ongoing and minimal information is currently available, we can at least confirm that certain personal information of some community members was likely unlawfully accessed in the breach.”

According to the letter, the 400 affected parents had already received a letter regarding the violation on Friday.

A parent told 7NEWS that he was pleased with the way the school handled the violation.

“It’s a bit worrying, but I’m sure they have everything under control,” he said.

Another parent said they would have liked to hear about the breach when it happened, rather than three weeks later.

“I would have liked to know right away,” he said.

Morison said the school will continue to work with IT professionals to determine exactly what information was stolen from each individual.

“I sincerely apologize that this happened,” he said.

“Rest assured we have the best cyber professionals working with us on this matter and we are doing everything possible to manage this situation in accordance with best practices for cyber incidents of this nature.”

At this time, AFP will not be investigating the data breach.