The Prime Minister’s number is one of many that has been scraped and posted on a US website. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
Australian Federal Police and other government agencies are investigating a massive privacy breach in which the personal mobile phone numbers of Anthony Albanese and Sussan Ley have been published online.
The Prime Minister and Opposition Leader were both among a list of prominent Australians whose numbers appeared on a US-based website accessible through a free trial.
The site also listed phone numbers it claimed to belong to ACT independent Senator David Pocock, Tasmanian Senator Jacquie Lambie, Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles, Education Minister Jason Clare, New South Wales Premier Chris Minns, Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan and numerous others.
Former prime ministers Scott Morrison, Malcolm Turnbull and Tony Abbott were among those on the phone list.
The site didn’t just focus on Australians; it also included numbers claiming to be of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Donald Trump Jr. from the United States on the published list.
In Australia, the privacy breach was first reported by independent news outlet Ette Media late on Monday (13 October) behind a paywall.
Ette discovered its co-founder, Antoinette Lattouf, also had her personal number published on the site.
Local media outlets have subsequently chosen, for privacy reasons, not to name the US website posting the mobile numbers.
The site claims to offer its subscribers data intelligence for business and marketing, and boasts a list of email and phone contacts for hundreds of millions of people around the world.
The website uses artificial intelligence to scan social media posts, job advertisements, private sites and correspondence to harvest personal information to offer to its clients.
Ms Ley has asked for her number to be removed from the site. Her office said they were only made aware of her number being listed through the media this week.
Mr Albanese’s office said they have been aware of the issue since last month.
The AFP has also confirmed it has formally sought to have the Prime Minister’s number taken down, and issued a statement saying it is “an offence to use a carriage service to menace, harass or cause offence” in Australia.
The AFP promises to take “swift action” against those caught breaching that law.
The Australian politicians who have so far commented are not reporting any nuisance calls at this stage.
Several Federal Government agencies are working furiously to minimise the impacts of the breach on parliamentarians and others.
“We’ve notified authorities and that is being worked through, but obviously, there is concern,” Mr Marles said.
In NSW, Mr Minns addressed the issue during a media conference, saying AI was dramatically changing the world.
“No one’s been prank-calling me, but maybe that’ll happen this afternoon, so I don’t know,” he said.
“I think it is a concern if your personal data is out there. We want to make sure that we’re protecting that.
“But, you know, this is the age that we live in. Technology is rapidly changing.
“This is one in a long line of information from public officials or regular citizens that just seems to tumble out.
“We want to look at ways of strengthening it, but I also think in some ways it’s going to be inevitable in the future.”
It comes as the Australian Signals Directorate published its Annual Cyber Threat Report 2024-25, stating that AI is increasing the incidence and manner of cybercrime.
“The threat from cybercrime also continues to challenge Australia’s economic and social prosperity, with average reported financial losses, the frequency of ransomware attacks and the number of reported data breaches all increasing throughout the financial year 2024–25,” it states.
“Cybercriminals are continuing their aggressive campaign of credential theft, purchasing stolen usernames and passwords from the dark web to access personal email, social media or financial accounts.”
