Thousands of flood survivors in New South Wales, Australia, have had their personal details exposed after a former contractor to the NSW Reconstruction Authority uploaded sensitive data to ChatGPT.
The breach involves the Northern Rivers Resilient Homes Program, which was created to support residents impacted by the 2022 floods.
Through the program, the government offered options such as voluntary home buybacks, financial help to rebuild, or property upgrades aimed at improving resilience.
Now, applicants who sought relief through this initiative may be dealing with the consequences of a serious privacy failure.
Central to the incident is an Excel spreadsheet containing more than 12,000 rows of data.
The document, which was uploaded to ChatGPT between March 12 and 15, is believed to include information on as many as 3,000 people.
The compromised data includes names, phone numbers, email addresses, physical addresses, and some health-related information. According to the government, the upload was carried out without authorization.
Despite taking place over six months ago, the breach was not made public until this week, during a public holiday in NSW.
The delay in disclosure is a reminder of ongoing concerns around the speed and transparency of mandatory breach notifications.
Hellbound and Down 