Victorian court participants' personal data posted on dark web, police launch probe

Personal information of individuals who took part in online hearings at regional Victorian courts was uploaded to an underground hacking forum in July, according to Court Services Victoria. The dump contains names, email addresses, job titles and other metadata from sessions held in locations such as Bendigo, Castlemaine, Echuca, Kerang, Kyneton, Maryborough, Mildura, Ouyen, Robinvale and Swan Hill, and includes highly sensitive details from family-violence intervention orders and children’s court matters.

The data set, said to comprise 28,600 lines of court records spanning 2022 to 2026, also includes case names and courtroom identifiers. CSV said it cannot confirm the exact number of people impacted and that some records may be incomplete or inaccurate. Victoria Police’s cybercrime detectives are leading the investigation, working alongside the Victorian Information Commissioner, the Australian Cyber Security Centre and other justice-sector bodies. The breach follows a 2024 ransomware attack attributed to Russian hackers and a 2021 incident where the Children’s Court inadvertently exposed case information online.