In the news

Sources: News.com.au, The Australian

The South Australian Government has ordered an urgent investigation into its medical laboratory, Medvet, over a major breach of customer confidentiality. 

Invoices identifying the work and home addresses, and in some cases names, of customers purchasing paternity test kits had been made available online and were accessible via Google. People seeking drug and alcohol test kits were also affected. A report in The Australian said industry sources described it as one of the worst privacy lapses and the most serious in a sector that has grown steadily with the increasing use of workplace testing of employees for the presence of alcohol and drugs. Most of test kits had been sent to private addresses. 

Early indications are that the breach was a result of poor controls over privacy and were not due to hacking. The leak could lead to legal action against the SA Government, or for individual compensation claims.