Data breach affects 50,000 Australian workers … SA bank tax idea dead … JD.com to settle in Down Under

More than 50,000 Australian employees across government agencies and banks have had their personal data compromised after a cloud storage ‘bucket’ was misconfigured at a third-party contractor that held the information.

ITNews reported this morning that a Polish security researcher found more than 48,000 of the personal records after searching for Amazon S3 ‘storage buckets’ that had been left open, finding the vulnerability left the workers’ full names, employee ideas, contact details, work credit card and salary information available for download.

Among the organisations believed to be affected are insurer AMP, with 25,000 records affected, and UGL, with 17,000. Government departments affected include the Department of Finance, Australian Electoral Commission and National Disability Insurance Agency.

The Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet told ITNews it had been alerted to the breach in October and had taken steps to notify those affected and work with the contractor to secure the information.

South Australian parliament defeats bank tax

South Australia’s controversial bank tax idea has been shelved after the opposition, minor parties and an independent voted it down in the state’s upper house of Parliament.

The ABC reports the measure, which would have seen a 0.015% on the state’s share of liabilities held by the major banks, was rejected by one vote in a late-night sitting on Wednesday.

Labor unveiled the plan in this year’s budget, and Labor MP Kyam Maher said the attack on the $370 million fundraising measure would set the tone for future policy discussions in the state.

“If this precedent is set that an Opposition feels at liberty to pick large pieces of the budget apart, that will be something that Labor in opposition will remember and take full advantage of,” he said.

JD.com to set up shop Down Under

Chinese retail giant JD.com has its sights set on opening an Australian office, reports Inside Retail, as the e-commerce platform continues talks with local retailers to sell through its platform.

The company’s vice president of international corporate affairs, Josh Gartner, says the company has already “been doing quite a bit of business in Australia over the last two years”, and the retailer will create a base in Australia in the not-too-distant future.

JD.com competitor Alibaba is already in Australia, after it set up its Melbourne headquarters at the start of the year.

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