[Australia] Former Slater + Gordon employee reported to police over email scandal

In Australia, the law firm Slater + Gordon suspects a former employee of carrying out a “premeditated and carefully planned attack” following a forensic investigation after criticism of executives and the salaries of its entire workforce was leaked in an unauthorised staff-wide email, NewsWire reports.

In a statement, Slater + Gordon said it has “reasonable grounds” to suspect the email may have originated from a former employee.

The employee was reportedly “aware of the company’s security protocols” and previously held authorised access to “certain data.”

The “malicious” email was BCC’ed to all Slater + Gordon staff on February 18. It contained details of the salaries, bonuses and performance ratings of its 906 employees.

In its statement, the firm said that Slater + Gordon’s IT team and certain senior executives were seemingly “deliberately excluded” from the recipients list. No client information was compromised in the incident.

The email was sent under the name of former people officer Mari Ruiz Matthyssen. Slater + Gordon, its chief executive Dina Tutungi, and Ms Matthyssen have since confirmed that she did not send it.

“The data attached to the email appears to have been taken from at least three different internal source documents, which were combined and altered. Those source documents have restricted access within the firm,” the statement read.

“There is no evidence to suggest that any current employee, contractor, or external threat actor was involved.

“The email was a premeditated and carefully planned attack which Slater + Gordon condemns in the strongest possible terms.”

Source: NewsWire

(Quotes via original reporting)

In Australia, the law firm Slater + Gordon suspects a former employee of carrying out a “premeditated and carefully planned attack” following a forensic investigation after criticism of executives and the salaries of its entire workforce was leaked in an unauthorised staff-wide email, NewsWire reports.

In a statement, Slater + Gordon said it has “reasonable grounds” to suspect the email may have originated from a former employee.

The employee was reportedly “aware of the company’s security protocols” and previously held authorised access to “certain data.”

The “malicious” email was BCC’ed to all Slater + Gordon staff on February 18. It contained details of the salaries, bonuses and performance ratings of its 906 employees.

In its statement, the firm said that Slater + Gordon’s IT team and certain senior executives were seemingly “deliberately excluded” from the recipients list. No client information was compromised in the incident.

The email was sent under the name of former people officer Mari Ruiz Matthyssen. Slater + Gordon, its chief executive Dina Tutungi, and Ms Matthyssen have since confirmed that she did not send it.

“The data attached to the email appears to have been taken from at least three different internal source documents, which were combined and altered. Those source documents have restricted access within the firm,” the statement read.

“There is no evidence to suggest that any current employee, contractor, or external threat actor was involved.

“The email was a premeditated and carefully planned attack which Slater + Gordon condemns in the strongest possible terms.”

Source: NewsWire

(Quotes via original reporting)